Psalms 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹ 

Psalms 137:4

137:4 How can we sing a song to the Lord

in a foreign land?

Psalms 11:1

Psalm 11 ² 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ³ 

How can you say to me, ⁴ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ⁵ 

[73:19]  ¹ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[11:1]  ² sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ⁴ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ⁵ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.