Psalm 11:3

Psalm 11:3

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

a. NLT: The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?”

b. NIV: When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

c. Amplified bible: If the foundations are destroyed, what can the [unyieldingly] righteous do, or what has He [the Righteous One] wrought or accomplished?

d. Septuagint:  For they have pulled down what thou didst frame, but what has the righteous done?

e. Stone Edition Torah/Writings/Prophets: When the foundations are destroyed, what has the righteous man accomplished?

1. “If the foundations be destroyed…”

a. foundations [8356 * shathah][Strong: from 7896; a basis, i.e. (figuratively) political or moral support:--foundation, purpose.

b. destroyed [2040 * harac][Strong: a primitive root; to pull down or in pieces, break, &Š destroy:--beat down, break (down, through), destroy, overthrow, pluck down, pull down, ruin, throw down, X utterly.

2. “…what can the righteous do?”

a. righteous [6662 * tsaddiyq][Strong: from 6663; just:--just, lawful, righteous (man).]

b. do [6466 * pa’al][Strong: a primitive root; to do or make (systematically and habitually), especially to practise:--commit, (evil-) do(-er), make(-r), ordain, work(-er).]

c. One thing we can do is written in Isaiah. Notice in the passage some of the results of these fasts: “they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations…”

1). Isaiah 58:5-12 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

9 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:

11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.