Psa 11 | EE | STEP | This is a song of David for the music leader. (These are words of David.) I am hiding in the LORD. How can you say to me, (These are the words of David’s friends.) Fly away like a bird to the hills?

Psalms 11

Fly Away like a Bird

This is a song of David for the music leader.

1 (These are words of David.)

I am hiding in the LORD.

How can you say to me,

(These are the words of David’s friends.)

Fly away like a bird to the hills?

2 Look at the godless!

They are preparing their bows and arrows.

They are getting ready to shoot at good people.

They are hiding in the shadows.

3 When people destroy the foundations

what can the righteous do? ^{▼▼11:3 Verses 1 – 3: David asks his friends why they tell him to run away. His friends say, ‘The godless want to kill the righteous.’ Here, this means David. Sometimes we feel like this. We want to run away. We say, ‘Everything is going wrong.’ We must be like David. We must stay where God put us! Verse 3 means this. If you take away the foundations of a house, it will fall down. The same is true of our lives and our countries. If we do not build them on something good, they will not continue for long.}

4 (These are words of David.)

The LORD is in his holy temple.

The LORD is sitting on his throne in heaven.

He is looking down.

His eyes see what the sons of men are doing.

5 The LORD is also checking what the righteous are doing.

But the LORD really hates the godless.

He also hates the people that love to hurt other people.

6 Burning coal and sulphur will rain on the godless.

A very hot wind will be their inheritance and cup. ^{▼▼11:6 Verses 4 – 6: This tells us what David believes. He says:
– The LORD is in his temple. David means that God is in heaven. From heaven, God can see everybody on the earth.
– The LORD can see the bad people and the good people. David calls the good people righteous. This is a difficult word. Only God is really righteous. But he calls his servants righteous. When they do wrong things they must ask God to forgive them. Look after Psalms 1 and 5 to find out what ‘forgive’ means.
– The LORD will not forgive some people because they do not ask him to forgive them. Their inheritance is what happens to them. David also calls it their cup. God will punish them. (Punish means hurt them because they did wrong things.) David gives 3 pictures of this: coal that burns, sulphur that smells bad and winds that stop people from breathing.}

7 The LORD is righteous.

He loves righteous people.

They will see his face. ^{▼▼11:7 Verse 7: The psalm ends with a wonderful promise. righteous people will one day see the face of God!}