11:4 The Lord is in his holy temple; 1
the Lord’s throne is in heaven. 2
His eyes 3 watch; 4
his eyes 5 examine 6 all people. 7
11:7 Certainly 8 the Lord is just; 9
he rewards godly deeds; 10
the upright will experience his favor. 11
1 tn Because of the royal imagery involved here, one could translate “lofty palace.” The
2 sn The
3 sn His eyes. The anthropomorphic language draws attention to God’s awareness of and interest in the situation on earth. Though the enemies are hidden by the darkness (v. 2), the Lord sees all.
4 tn The two Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in this verse describe the
5 tn Heb “eyelids.”
6 tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 7:9; 26:2; 139:23.
7 tn Heb “test the sons of men.”
8 tn Or “for.”
9 tn Or “righteous.”
10 tn Heb “he loves righteous deeds.” The “righteous deeds” are probably those done by godly people (see v. 5). The Lord “loves” such deeds in the sense that he rewards them. Another option is to take צְדָקוֹת (tsÿdaqot) as referring to God’s acts of justice (see Ps 103:6). In this case one could translate, “he loves to do just deeds.”
11 tn Heb “the upright will see his face.” The singular subject (“upright”) does not agree with the plural verb. However, collective singular nouns can be construed with a plural predicate (see GKC 462 §145.b). Another possibility is that the plural verb יֶחֱזוּ (yekhezu) is a corruption of an original singular form. To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 17:15 and Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזָה (khazah), is used]). On the form פָנֵימוֹ (fanemo, “his face”) see GKC 300-301 §103.b, n. 3.