Psalms 11

Verse 2. Save. David, persecuted by Saul, (Bossuet) or Absalom; (Grot.) the captives at Babylon; ( Calmet.) our Saviour suffering, or coming to judge; (Saint Augustine) in a word, any just man who sees the corruption of men, may use this language. Bible.—We cannot open the writings of the prophets, or of the Fathers, without meeting with such complaints. Hebrew “no saint;” chasid, “pious” (Pagn. Bible.) clement person. Calmet.—Truths. Hebrew “people of veracity.” Calmet.—Bias said, “All men are bad;” (Clem. strom. 1.) or, as Laertius expresses it, “Most people are wicked.” Hence few are chosen. Bible.—Christ is the truth. If we admire his doctrine, let us put it in practice. Bert.

Verse 3. Deceitful. Hebrew “flattering;” and of course not fee from deceit. Bert.—

“That man I hate, e’en as the gates of hell,

Who thinks one thing, and will another tell.” Iliad I.

—None can have ( Bible.) confidence in a liar. S. Jam. 1:8. Calmet.

Verse 4. Lips. “The saints do not curse, but foretell what will happen.” Saint Jerome—Hebrew “the Lord will destroy” the deceitful, (Bert.) who mean to injure men; ( Bible.) and the proud, who attack God and religion, which they pretend they can prove (Bert.) to be a mere fiction, by their superior eloquence! Bible.

Verse 5. Own. “We have lips,” (Sym.) or eloquence to gain our cause against these miserable exiles. Calmet.—Lord. Hebrew adon, “master.” We admit of no superior, neither in heaven nor on earth. Bible.—Such was the haughtiness of Pharao, and so forth Exodus 5:2 and 4 Kennicott. 13:19. Daniel 3:15. Calmet.

Verse 6. Arise, and redeem lost man; (Theod.) or, protect my servants ( Calmet.) from such insolent oppressors. Bible.—Regard. This may be put in the mouth of the afflicted. Calmet.—“I will place my confidence in the Saviour, and will act boldly in him.” Bible.—His promises give me full assurance, verse 7. The Hebrew seems to be incorrect, and very different from what the ancients read. Calmet.—Saint Jerome has, “I will place their aid in salvation;” ( Bible.) which he explains of Jesus Christ. See Isaiah 12:2. Calmet.—Moderns insert many words. “I will save him, that hey may learn to trust in me.” German.—“I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.” Prot. Or “would ensnare him.” Margin. We may better translate, “I will put in safety, the Lord will act freely herein;” or, “safety which will act freely upon him,” the poor. Bert.—“I will raise up a Saviour, who with his breath will destroy the wicked.” Prin. disc.

Verse 7. Pure words, very different from those of the deceitful, verse 3. Calmet.—Earth, dross, or in the crucible, or “for the ruler of earth:” (Pagnin. Bible.) current money. If we alter the Hebrew a little, it may be, “with care, (bahalil, which is never elsewhere used for a crucible) gold refined seven times;” often, (Proverbs 24:16) or as much as possible. Calmet.