Psalm 11:3
New International Version
When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

New Living Translation
The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”

English Standard Version
if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Berean Standard Bible
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

King James Bible
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

New King James Version
If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?

New American Standard Bible
“If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”

NASB 1995
If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”

NASB 1977
If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”

Legacy Standard Bible
If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”

Amplified Bible
“If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”

Christian Standard Bible
When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

American Standard Version
If the foundations be destroyed, What can the righteous do?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because they have overthrown that which you have prepared, but what is the righteous doing?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For they have pulled down what thou didst frame, but what has the righteous done?

Contemporary English Version
What can an honest person do when everything crumbles?"

Douay-Rheims Bible
For they have destroyed the things which thou hast made: but what has the just man done?

English Revised Version
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When the foundations [of life] are undermined, what can a righteous person do?"

Good News Translation
There is nothing a good person can do when everything falls apart."

International Standard Version
When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

JPS Tanakh 1917
When the foundations are destroyed, What hath the righteous wrought?

Literal Standard Version
When the foundations are destroyed, | The righteous—what has he done?

Majority Standard Bible
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

New American Bible
If foundations are destroyed, what can the just one do?”

NET Bible
When the foundations are destroyed, what can the godly accomplish?"

New Revised Standard Version
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

New Heart English Bible
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Webster's Bible Translation
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

World English Bible
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Young's Literal Translation
When the foundations are destroyed, The righteous -- what hath he done?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
In the LORD I Take Refuge
2For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” 4The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.…

Cross References
Psalm 82:5
They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Psalm 87:1
His foundation is on the holy mountains.

Psalm 119:152
Long ago I learned from Your testimonies that You have established them forever.

Isaiah 19:10
The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.


Treasury of Scripture

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

If the

Psalm 75:3
The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

Psalm 82:5
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

Isaiah 58:12
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

what

2 Kings 19:13-18
Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah? …

2 Kings 22:12-14
And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, …

2 Chronicles 32:13-15
Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand? …

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Psalm 11
1. David encourages himself in God against his enemies
4. The providence and justice of God














(3) The foundations.--By this word must be understood the principles of morality, which are the foundation of society. Symmachus and Jerome render "laws." But the rendering "What could the righteous do?" is doubtful. The image is of a house shattered by an earthquake (comp. Psalm 82:5); in such a case how find safety? The LXX. and Vulg. have "Since they have destroyed what thou hast established, what has the righteous done?" The order of the Hebrew words seems to support this rendering, "While morality has been overthrown, the righteous what has he done?" A suggested emendation, involving but a slight change in the Hebrew letters, would produce, however, a far better sense: "If the foundations be destroyed, what will become of the tower, or superstructure?"

Verse 3. - If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The word translated" foundations" is a rare one, only occurring here and in Isaiah 19:10. The meaning of "foundations," first given to it by Aquila, is now generally adopted. We must suppose the timid friends to be still speaking, and to mean that, under the lawless rule of Saul, the very foundations of society and of moral order were swept away; the righteous (צַדִּיק, a collective) had done and could do nothing to prevent it. What remained for David, but to withdraw from a community where there was neither law nor order, where the first magistrate commanded (1 Samuel 19:1) and attempted (1 Samuel 19:10) assassination?

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
If
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the foundations
הַ֭שָּׁתוֹת (haš·šā·ṯō·wṯ)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8356: A basis, political, moral support

are destroyed,
יֵֽהָרֵס֑וּן (yê·hā·rê·sūn)
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural | Paragogic nun
Strong's 2040: To pull down, in pieces, break, & destroy

what
מַה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

can the righteous
צַ֝דִּ֗יק (ṣad·dîq)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 6662: Just, righteous

do?”
פָּעָֽל׃ (pā·‘āl)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6466: To do, make, to practise


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OT Poetry: Psalm 11:3 If the foundations are destroyed what can (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 11:2
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