Bible Strands
Psalms 11:3
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the faithful during a crisis when the wicked are actively targeting the upright from concealment. The words — שָׁתוֹת (shatot) means foundations, and יֵהָרֵסוּ (yeharesu) means they are torn down or destroyed. The thread — The phrase echoes the shaken foundations in Psalm 82:5, contrasts with the unshaken firm foundation in 2 Timothy 2:19, and anticipates the restoration of ancient ruins in Isaiah 58:12. Why it lands — The text poses a rhetorical question about the righteous's capacity when all structural support fails, demanding the reader recognize that human effort is futile without the watching presence of the Lord described in the surrounding context.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Cross-references
- Psalms 82:5 They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- 2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
- Isaiah 58:12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.
- Psalms 75:3 When the earth and all its dwellers quake, it is I who bear up its pillars. Selah
- Acts 4:24 When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
- 2 Kings 19:13 Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”
- 2 Chronicles 32:13 Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of these nations ever been able to deliver their land from my hand?
- Nehemiah 6:10 Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: “Let us meet at the house of God inside the temple. Let us shut the temple doors because they are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you!”
- Daniel 3:15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the statue I have made, very good. But if you refuse to worship, you will be thrown at once into the blazing fiery furnace. Then what god will be able to deliver you from my hands?”
- Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.