Psalms Chapter 11 verse 3 Holy Bible
If the foundations be destroyed, What can the righteous do?
read chapter 11 in ASV
If the bases are broken down, what is the upright man to do?
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If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?
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If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
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If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
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If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?
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When the foundations are destroyed, The righteous -- what hath he done?
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 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?
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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?"