Psalms 17:11

They attack me, now they surround me; ¹  they intend to throw me to the ground. ² 

1Sa 23:26; 1Sa 24:2,3; 1Sa 26:2,3; Ps 10:8-10; Pr 6:13,14

¹ tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

² tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”