Psalms 8:8

8:8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea

and everything that moves through the currents ¹  of the seas.

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 

Psalms 84:3

84:3 Even the birds find a home there,

and the swallow ⁶  builds a nest,

where she can protect her young ⁷ 

near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,

my king and my God.

[8:8]  ¹ tn Heb “paths.”

[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.

[84:3]  ³ tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.

[84:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”