Discovery BoxPsalms 11:4 
Context11:4 The Lord is in his holy temple; 1
the Lord’s throne is in heaven. 2
his eyes 5 examine 6 all people. 7
Psalms 14:2
Context14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven 8 at the human race, 9
to see if there is anyone who is wise 10 and seeks God. 11
Psalms 53:2
Context53:2 God looks down from heaven 12 at the human race, 13
to see if there is anyone who is wise 14 and seeks God. 15
Psalms 57:3
Context57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me 16
from my enemies who hurl insults! 17 (Selah)
May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!
Psalms 139:8
Context139:8 If I were to ascend 18 to heaven, you would be there.
If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. 19
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 sn The picture of the
9 tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”
10 tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.
11 sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.
12 sn The picture of the
13 tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”
14 tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.
15 tn That is, who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.
16 tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).
17 tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”
18 tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).
19 tn Heb “look, you.”
