Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, July 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Psalms 11:7

God 's business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, Setting us straight. Once we're standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   God Continued...;   The Topic Concordance - Countenance;   God;   Love;   Righteousness;   Uprightness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Righteousness;   Righteousness of God, the;   Truth of God, the;   Uprightness;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - God;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Righteousness;   Upright, Uprightness;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Hearing the Word of God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Heaven;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Psalms;   Righteousness;   Sin;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Mercy;   Psalms, Book of;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Love;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds.The upright will see his face.
Hebrew Names Version
For the LORD is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face.
King James Version
For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.
English Standard Version
For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
New Century Version
The Lord does what is right, and he loves justice, so honest people will see his face.
New English Translation
Certainly the Lord is just; he rewards godly deeds; the upright will experience his favor.
Amplified Bible
For the LORD is [absolutely] righteous, He loves righteousness (virtue, morality, justice); The upright shall see His face.
New American Standard Bible
For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will see His face.
World English Bible
For Yahweh is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For the righteous Lorde loueth righteousnes: his countenance doeth beholde the iust.
Legacy Standard Bible
For Yahweh is righteous, He loves righteousness;The upright will behold His face.
Berean Standard Bible
For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.
Contemporary English Version
The Lord always does right and wants justice done. Everyone who does right will see his face.
Complete Jewish Bible
For Adonai is righteous; he loves righteousness; the upright will see his face.
Darby Translation
For righteous is Jehovah; he loveth righteousness, his countenance doth behold the upright.
Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord always does what is right, and he loves seeing people do right. Those who live good lives will be with him.
George Lamsa Translation
For the LORD is righteous, and he loves righteousness; his countenance beholds the upright.
Good News Translation
The Lord is righteous and loves good deeds; those who do them will live in his presence.
Lexham English Bible
For Yahweh is righteous; he loves righteous deeds. The upright shall see his face.
Literal Translation
For Jehovah is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the upright look upon His face.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the LORDE is rightuous, ad he loueth rightuousnes, his countenaunce beholdeth the thige yt is iust.
American Standard Version
For Jehovah is righteous; he loveth righteousness: The upright shall behold his face.
Bible in Basic English
For the Lord is upright; he is a lover of righteousness: the upright will see his face.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the LORD is righteous, He loveth righteousness; the upright shall behold His face.
King James Version (1611)
For the righteous Lord loueth righteousnesse: his countenance doeth behold the vpright.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For God most righteous, loueth righteousnes: his countenaunce wyll beholde the iust.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For the Lord is righteous, and loves righteousness; his face beholds uprightness.
English Revised Version
For the LORD is righteous; he loveth righteousness: the upright shall behold his face.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the Lord is riytful, and louede riytfulnessis; his cheer siy equite, `ethir euennesse.
Update Bible Version
For Yahweh is righteous; he loves righteousness: The upright shall see his face.
Webster's Bible Translation
For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance beholdeth the upright.
New King James Version
7 For the Lord is righteous,He loves righteousness;His countenance beholds the upright. [fn]
New Living Translation
For the righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face.
New Life Bible
For the Lord is right and good. He loves what is right and good. And those who are right with Him will see His face.
New Revised Standard
For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For righteous is Yahweh Righteousness, he loveth, the upright, shall behold his face.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(10-8) For the Lord is just, and hath loved justice: his countenance hath beheld righteousness.
Revised Standard Version
For the LORD is righteous, he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
Young's Literal Translation
For righteous [is] Jehovah, Righteousness He hath loved, The upright doth His countenance see!'
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.

Contextual Overview

4But God hasn't moved to the mountains; his holy address hasn't changed. He's in charge, as always, his eyes taking everything in, his eyelids Unblinking, examining Adam's unruly brood inside and out, not missing a thing. He tests the good and the bad alike; if anyone cheats, God's outraged. Fail the test and you're out, out in a hail of firestones, Drinking from a canteen filled with hot desert wind. 7 God 's business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, Setting us straight. Once we're standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For: Psalms 45:7, Psalms 99:4, Psalms 146:8, Isaiah 61:8

his: Psalms 5:12, Psalms 21:6, Psalms 33:18, Psalms 34:15, Psalms 42:5, Job 36:7, 1 Peter 3:12

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 7:13 - he will love Job 34:12 - surely Job 36:3 - ascribe Psalms 4:1 - O Psalms 18:23 - upright Psalms 19:13 - upright Psalms 33:5 - He Psalms 37:28 - loveth Psalms 48:10 - thy right Proverbs 11:20 - upright Isaiah 26:7 - most Acts 24:25 - righteousness

Cross-References

Genesis 1:26
God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."
Genesis 3:22
God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!"
Genesis 10:20
These are the descendants of Ham by family, language, country, and nation.
Genesis 10:32
This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood.
Genesis 11:4
Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let's make ourselves famous so we won't be scattered here and there across the Earth."
Genesis 11:5
God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.
Genesis 11:12
When Arphaxad was thirty-five years old, he had Shelah. After Arphaxad had Shelah, he lived 403 more years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 42:23
Joseph had been using an interpreter, so they didn't know that Joseph was understanding every word. Joseph turned away from them and cried. When he was able to speak again, he took Simeon and had him tied up, making a prisoner of him while they all watched.
Deuteronomy 28:49
If you listen obediently to the Voice of God , your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God , your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God , your God: God 's blessing inside the city, God 's blessing in the country; God 's blessing on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. God 's blessing on your basket and bread bowl; God 's blessing in your coming in, God 's blessing in your going out. God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They'll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads. God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he'll bless you in the land that God , your God, is giving you. God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God , your God, and live the way he has shown you. All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe. God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won't have to take out a loan. God will make you the head, not the tail; you'll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God , your God, that I am commanding you today. Don't swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods. Here's what will happen if you don't obediently listen to the Voice of God , your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I'm commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you: God 's curse in the city, God 's curse in the country; God 's curse on your basket and bread bowl; God 's curse on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. God 's curse in your coming in, God 's curse in your going out. God will send The Curse, The Confusion, The Contrariness down on everything you try to do until you've been destroyed and there's nothing left of you—all because of your evil pursuits that led you to abandon me. God will infect you with The Disease, wiping you right off the land that you're going in to possess. God will set consumption and fever and rash and seizures and dehydration and blight and jaundice on you. They'll hunt you down until they kill you. The sky over your head will become an iron roof, the ground under your feet, a slab of concrete. From out of the skies God will rain ash and dust down on you until you suffocate. God will defeat you by enemy attack. You'll come at your enemies on one road and run away on seven roads. All the kingdoms of Earth will see you as a horror. Carrion birds and animals will boldly feast on your dead body with no one to chase them away. God will hit you hard with the boils of Egypt, hemorrhoids, scabs, and an incurable itch. He'll make you go crazy and blind and senile. You'll grope around in the middle of the day like a blind person feeling his way through a lifetime of darkness; you'll never get to where you're going. Not a day will go by that you're not abused and robbed. And no one is going to help you. You'll get engaged to a woman and another man will take her for his mistress; you'll build a house and never live in it; you'll plant a garden and never eat so much as a carrot; you'll watch your ox get butchered and not get a single steak from it; your donkey will be stolen from in front of you and you'll never see it again; your sheep will be sent off to your enemies and no one will lift a hand to help you. Your sons and daughters will be shipped off to foreigners; you'll wear your eyes out looking vainly for them, helpless to do a thing. Your crops and everything you work for will be eaten and used by foreigners; you'll spend the rest of your lives abused and knocked around. What you see will drive you crazy. God will hit you with painful boils on your knees and legs and no healing or relief from head to foot. God will lead you and the king you set over you to a country neither you nor your ancestors have heard of; there you'll worship other gods, no-gods of wood and stone. Among all the peoples where God will take you, you'll be treated as a lesson or a proverb—a horror! You'll plant sacks and sacks of seed in the field but get almost nothing—the grasshoppers will devour it. You'll plant and hoe and prune vineyards but won't drink or put up any wine—the worms will devour them. You'll have groves of olive trees everywhere, but you'll have no oil to rub on your face or hands—the olives will have fallen off. You'll have sons and daughters but they won't be yours for long—they'll go off to captivity. Locusts will take over all your trees and crops. The foreigner who lives among you will climb the ladder, higher and higher, while you go deeper and deeper into the hole. He'll lend to you; you won't lend to him. He'll be the head; you'll be the tail. All these curses are going to come on you. They're going to hunt you down and get you until there's nothing left of you because you didn't obediently listen to the Voice of God , your God, and diligently keep his commandments and guidelines that I commanded you. The curses will serve as signposts, warnings to your children ever after. Because you didn't serve God , your God, out of the joy and goodness of your heart in the great abundance, you'll have to serve your enemies whom God will send against you. Life will be famine and drought, rags and wretchedness; then he'll put an iron yoke on your neck until he's destroyed you. Yes, God will raise up a faraway nation against you, swooping down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you can't understand, a mean-faced people, cruel to grandmothers and babies alike. They'll ravage the young of your animals and the crops from your fields until you're destroyed. They'll leave nothing behind: no grain, no wine, no oil, no calves, no lambs—and finally, no you. They'll lay siege to you while you're huddled behind your town gates. They'll knock those high, proud walls flat, those walls behind which you felt so safe. They'll lay siege to your fortified cities all over the country, this country that God , your God, has given you. And you'll end up cannibalizing your own sons and daughters that God , your God, has given you. When the suffering from the siege gets extreme, you're going to eat your own babies. The most gentle and caring man among you will turn hard, his eye evil, against his own brother, his cherished wife, and even the rest of his children who are still alive, refusing to share with them a scrap of meat from the cannibal child-stew he is eating. He's lost everything, even his humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns. And the most gentle and caring woman among you, a woman who wouldn't step on a wildflower, will turn hard, her eye evil, against her cherished husband, against her son, against her daughter, against even the afterbirth of her newborn infants; she plans to eat them in secret—she does eat them!—because she has lost everything, even her humanity, in the suffering of the siege that your enemy mounts against your fortified towns. If you don't diligently keep all the words of this Revelation written in this book, living in holy awe before This Name glorious and terrible, God , your God, then God will pound you with catastrophes, you and your children, huge interminable catastrophes, hideous interminable illnesses. He'll bring back and stick you with every old Egyptian malady that once terrorized you. And yes, every disease and catastrophe imaginable—things not even written in the Book of this Revelation— God will bring on you until you're destroyed. Because you didn't listen obediently to the Voice of God , your God, you'll be left with a few pitiful stragglers in place of the dazzling stars-in-the-heavens multitude you had become. And this is how things will end up: Just as God once enjoyed you, took pleasure in making life good for you, giving you many children, so God will enjoy getting rid of you, clearing you off the Earth. He'll weed you out of the very soil that you are entering in to possess. He'll scatter you to the four winds, from one end of the Earth to the other. You'll worship all kinds of other gods, gods neither you nor your parents ever heard of, wood and stone no-gods. But you won't find a home there, you'll not be able to settle down. God will give you a restless heart, longing eyes, a homesick soul. You will live in constant jeopardy, terrified of every shadow, never knowing what you'll meet around the next corner. In the morning you'll say, "I wish it were evening." In the evening you'll say, "I wish it were morning." Afraid, terrorized at what's coming next, afraid of the unknown, because of the sights you've witnessed. God will ship you back to Egypt by a road I promised you'd never see again. There you'll offer yourselves for sale, both men and women, as slaves to your enemies. And not a buyer to be found.
Psalms 33:10
God takes the wind out of Babel pretense, he shoots down the world's power-schemes. God 's plan for the world stands up, all his designs are made to last. Blessed is the country with God for God; blessed are the people he's put in his will.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness,.... The Lord is righteous in himself, and in all his ways and works; and therefore righteousness, as it lies both in punishing the wicked, and in maintaining the righteous cause of his people, must be loved by him, it being agreeable to his nature: he loves to exercise righteousness in the earth, to administer it to and among men; this he delights in. He is well pleased with the righteousness of his Son, it being satisfactory to his justice, and that by which his law is magnified and made honourable; and he is well pleased with his people, as they are clothed with it: and he approves of their righteous actions, as they are done in obedience to his righteous law, in faith, from a principle of love, and with a view to his glory; these are acceptable to him in Christ;

his countenance doth behold the upright; whom wicked men privily shoot at, Psalms 11:2; God looks with pleasure upon them, and takes delight in them, and takes care of them, protects and defends them, and at last saves them; and which, with all that goes before, was an encouragement to David to trust in the Lord; see Psalms 7:10; and moreover, the Lord lifts up the light of his countenance on such, and indulges them with his gracious presence, than which nothing is more comfortable and desirable. Some choose to render the word, "their countenance" y, meaning the trinity of Persons, Father, Son, and Spirit, who all have a gracious regard to such: others render the clause thus, "the upright shall see his face", the face of God; so the Chaldee paraphrase and the Arabic version; see Psalms 17:15.

y פנימו "facies eorum", Genebrardus, Vatablus, Gussetius; so R. Japhet in Aben Ezra, who compares it with Genesis xx. 13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness - This would be more correctly rendered, “For Jehovah is righteous; he loves righteousness.” The idea is, that God is himself righteous, and, consequently, he loves those who are righteous. He may be confided in, therefore, by the righteous as their friend, and being under his protection they have nothing to fear.

His countenance doth behold the upright - The word rendered “countenance” is, in the Hebrew, in the plural number; literally,” his faces.” It is not easy to account for this use of the plural, though it is common in the Scriptures. There may be an allusion to the fact that man seems to have two faces - one on the right side, and one on the left, two eyes, two cheeks, two nostrils, etc., as if made up of two persons. Applied to God, it has no other signification than it has when applied to man; nor should we seek to find anything mystical in the fact that the plural form is used. The term here, like the eyelids in Psalms 11:6, is equivalent to eyes, since the most remarkable feature of the countenance is the eyes; and the idea is, that God looks upon the upright; that is, he sees their dangers amid their wants; he looks upon them with favor and affection. Being thus constantly under his eye, and being objects of his favorable regard, they can have nothing to fear; or, in other words, they are safe. This, then, is the argument of the righteous man, in reply to the suggestion Psalms 11:1 that he should “flee” from danger. The argument is, that God would be his defender, and that he might safely rely on His protection. The wicked have everything to fear; the righteous, nothing. The one is never safe; the other, always. The one will be delivered out of all his troubles; the end of the other can be only ruin.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 11:7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness — He loves that which resembles himself. His countenance - his face - is ever open and unclouded to the upright. They always enjoy his salvation, and know that he is pleased with them.

The preceding verse my old MS. translates and paraphrases thus: -

He sal rayne on synful, snares, fyre, brimstane, and gost of stormis.

Par. - He sal rayne on synful in this werld, snares, that es wiked Lare: fyre is covatyse: brunstane, that es stynk of il werkes: and gost of stormis, that es a stormy though that es withoutyn rest in Ihesu Crist, and ay es traveld with the wynd of the devel. Or the gast of stormys, es the last depertyng of synful fra ryghtwis men, and there fyre, brunston, storm, er part of the chalyie of thaim: that es, thai ar thair part in pyne. He cals thair pyne a Cop, for ilk dampned man sal drynk of the sorow of Hel, eftir the mesure of hys Syn. Behald the pynes of wikid men: fyrst, God raynes upon thaim snares, that es qwen he suffers fals prophetes that comes in clathing of mekenes; and withinnen er wers than wolves, to desayf thaim thurgh errour. Sythen the fyre of lychery, and covatys wastes al the gude that thai haf done: eftirward for stynk of il werkes that er castyn fra Crist, and al his Halows, and then er in sentence of dome; as in a grete storme, dryven in til a pitte of Hel, to bryn in fyre withoutyn ende. This es the entent of this wers.

Ver. Psalms 11:7. For ryghtwis es Lord; and he lufes ryghtwisnes; evennes saw the face of hym — Yf ge ask qwy oure lorde yelded pyne to synful? lo here an answere; for he es rightwis. Als so if ge wil witt qwy he gifes ioy til gude men? Lo here an answere; for he lufed ryghtwisnes: that es, ryghtwis men, in the qwilk er many ryghtwisneses: thof ane be the ryghtwisnes of God, in the qwilk al ryghtwise men or parcenel. Evenes saw his face: that es, evenes es sene in his knawyng inence, both the partys of gud and il. This es ogayne wryches at sais, If God saf me noght, I dar say he es unryghtwis: bot thof thai say it now, qwen he suffris wryched men errour in thought, and worde and dede; thai sal noght be so hardy to speke a worde qwen he comes to dampne thaire errour. Bot who so lufes here and haldes that na unevenes may be in hym, qwam so he dampnes, or qwam so he saves, he sal have thaire myght to stand and to speke gude space. Now er swilk in a wonderful wodenes, that wenes for grete wordes to get ought of God.

The former part of this Psalm, Flee as a bird, c., this ancient author considers as the voice of heresy inviting the true Church to go away into error and intimates that those who were separating from haly kyrk were very pure, and unblameable in all their conduct; and that mountain or hill, as he translates it, signifies eminent virtues, of which they had an apparently good stock. So it appears that those called heretics lived then a holier life than those called halows or saints.

ANALYSIS OF THE ELEVENTH PSALM

This Psalm is composed dialoguewise, betwixt David and those of his counsellors that persuaded him to fly to some place of safety from Saul's fury; which, if he did not, he was in a desperate condition. The Psalm has two parts.

I. He relates his counsellors' words Psalms 11:1-3.

II. To which he returns his answer, Psalms 11:1, and confirms it, Psalms 11:4-7.

I. You, my counsellors, whether of good or bad will I know not, tempt me, that, giving up all hope of the kingdom, I go into perpetual banishment. Such, you say, is Saul's fury against me. Thus, then, ye advise, "Flee as a bird to your mountain:" and your arguments are,

1. The greatness of the danger I am in: "For lo, the wicked bend their bow."

2. The want of aid; there is no hope of help. For the foundations are cast down. Saul has broken all the leagues and covenants he has made with you. He has slain the priests with the sword, has taken thy fortresses, laws subverted. If thou stay, perish thou must: some righteous men, it is true, are left; but what can the righteous do?

II. To these their arguments and counsel, David returns his answer in a sharp reprehension. I tell you,

1. "I trust in God: how say you then to my soul." And he gives his reasons for it from the sufficiency and efficiency of God.

1. You say the foundations are cast down; yet I despair not, for God is sufficient.

1. Present in his holy temple; he can defend.

2. He is a great King, and his throne is in heaven.

3. Nothing is hidden from him: "His eyes behold, and his eyelids," c.

4. He is a just God, and this is seen in his proceedings both to the just and unjust. 1. He trieth the righteous, by a fatherly and gentle correction. 2. "But the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth."

These two last propositions he expounds severally, and begins with the wicked.

1. "Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone," &c. 1. He shall rain upon them when they least think of it, even in the midst of their jollity, as rain falls on a fair day. 2. Or, he shall rain down the vengeance when he sees good, for it rains not always. Though he defer it, yet it will rain. 3. The punishment shall come to their utter subversion, as the fire on Sodom, &c. 4. This is the portion of their cup, that which they must expect from him.

2. But he does good to the just: "For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright." He bears him good will, and is careful to defend him.

On the whole the Psalm shows, 1. That David had the strongest conviction of his own uprightness. 2. That he had the fullest persuasion that God would protect him from all his enemies, and give him a happy issue out of all his distresses.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile