1.

In the LORD put I my trust: How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

1. my soul—me ().
Flee—literally, "flee ye"; that is, he and his companion.
as a bird to your mountain—having as such no safety but in flight (compare 1 Samuel 26:20; Lamentations 3:52).

2.

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

2. privily—literally, "in darkness," treacherously.

3.

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

3. Literally, "The foundations (that is, of good order and law) will be destroyed, what has the righteous done (to sustain them)?" All his efforts have failed.

4.

The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

4. temple . . . heaven—The connection seems to denote God's heavenly residence; the term used is taken from the place of His visible earthly abode (Psalms 2:6; Psalms 3:4; Psalms 5:7). Thence He inspects men with close scrutiny.

5.

The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

5. The trial of the righteous results in their approval, as it is contrasted with God's hatred to the wicked.

6.

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

6. Their punishment is described by vivid figures denoting abundant, sudden, furious, and utter destruction (compare Genesis 19:24; Job 18:15; Psalms 7:15; Psalms 9:15).
cup—is a frequent figure for God's favor or wrath (Psalms 16:5; Psalms 23:5; Matthew 20:22; Matthew 20:23).

7.

For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

7. his countenance—literally, "their faces," a use of the plural applied to God, as in Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:22; Genesis 11:7; Isaiah 6:8, c., denoting the fulness of His perfections, or more probably originating in a reference to the trinity of persons. "Faces" is used as "eyes" (Isaiah 6:8), expressing here God's complacency towards the upright (compare Psalms 34:15 Psalms 34:16).