Psalm 11 Overview
Trapped birds
Psalm 11
Welcome to the Overview of Psalm 11
This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 11 as a whole. It includes the following sections:
Introduction to Psalm 11
Author:
Purpose:
- To rebuke and exhort those who doubt YHWH's righteous rule.
Content:
- Flee, because we are under attack, and YHWH will not protect us, the righteous. But I have sought refuge in YHWH, because YHWH is righteous, and he will protect the righteous.
Message:
- "YHWH is righteous" (v. 7a).
Psalm 11 At-a-Glance
These sections divide the content of the psalm into digestible pieces , and are determined based on information from many of our layers, including Semantics, Poetics, and Discourse. The columns, left to right, contain: the verse numbers; the main title of the section; a brief summary of the content of that section (quote marks indicate the text is taken directly from the English text of the psalm (as per our Close-but-Clear translation); and an icon to visually represent and remember the content.
Background Orientation for Psalm 11
Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.
- A trapped bird is an image for a besieged king (cf. ANET 288; Quine 2017).
- Bows were a critical offensive weapon in a siege (see e.g., the 8th-7th century BC relief of the Assyrian siege of Lachish; cf. Eph'al 2013:87; Schwartz 2018:509).
- Cities are protected by fortifications (e.g., walls and towers), which have foundations (e.g., Mic. 1:6), and a besieging army might attempt to destroy the foundations of these fortifications (cf. Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 6.15ff; Yadin 1963:16-20).
- Metals are subjected to intense heat ("tested" בחן) both for the purpose of examining their quality and for the purpose of refining them (cf. Keel 1997:184]).
Background Situation for Psalm 11
The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon.
Participants in Psalm 11