Ps 11:9

“Wicked men walk on all sides to hide traps to cause me to stumble. when the basest to the sons of men is elevated Heb. כרם זלות לבני אדם [They walk on all sides] because of their envy, for they are jealous of my greatness, that I was taken from behind the sheep to be a king. This is the interpretation of כרם זלות לבני אדם: when a man considered by the sons of men to be base is elevated. This is on the order of the passage elsewhere (below 118:22): “The stone that the builders rejected became a cornerstone.” The Midrash Aggadah interprets it concerning Israel in the future, when they will be elevated. [Unknown Midrashic source] Menachem interprets כרם זלות לבני אדם (pp. 78, 164): like a gluttonous wild ox to devour the sons of men. Accordingly, כרם is rendered: like a רים or ראם, and זלות is like (Deut. 21:20) זולל וסבא, “a glutton and a drunkard.” The following is its interpretation: The wicked walk on all sides around the poor man; the wicked walk to swallow him for naught, as a wild ox to swallow the sons of men.”

“About. Their life is a circle of relapses; or rather they continually attack the just, (Calmet) but their designs are made subservient to their advancement in virtue, by the power of God. (Tirinus) — Hebrew, “They (the just) shall go round the wicked, when baseness shall have raised herself up, on account of the children of men.” When God shall have restored the Jews to liberty, the Babylonians shall be, in their turn, oppressed by Cyrus and the Persians, whom they now despise: or, when the miserable shall be placed in power, the wicked shall not dare to approach them. (Calmet) — “The wicked shall walk round about, when the vilest of the sons of men shall be exalted.” (St. Jerome) (Haydock) — The former have spent their life in vanity, and shall be kept for ever out of the kingdom of heaven; as the error of the Platonists, who assert that all things will come to pass again, the world being compared to a wheel, is manifestly refuted by Scripture, which assures us that God will preserve the just from this generation, (St. Augustine) and the wicked will knock at the door, like the foolish virgins, and will be rejected with, I never knew you, Matthew xxv. (St. Jerome or some other learned author.) (Worthington) — For some suspect that the commentary which goes under the name of St. Jerome, is not in the state in which it came from his hands. — (Haydock) Bible Text & Cross-references: The prophet calls for God’s help against the wicked. 1 Unto the end: for the octave, a psalm for David. 2 Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are decayed from among the children of men. 3 They have spoken vain things, every one to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken. 4 May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. 5 Who have said: We will magnify our tongue: our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? 6 By reason of the misery of the needy, and the groans of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety: I will deal confidently in his regard. 7 *The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times. 8 Thou, O Lord, wilt preserve us: and keep us from this generation for ever. 9 The wicked walk round about: according to thy highness, thou hast multiplied the children of men.”