Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageIf the very foundations are collapsing, what can the righteous hold onto?
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GWhen the foundations are being torn down — what can even the righteous do?
KJV
King James VersionIf the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
BSB
Berean Standard BibleIf the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
Footnotes
The noun *shetot* (שְּׁתוֹת), from the root *shath* (שָׁת, to set or lay), refers to foundational pillars or structural supports — the underpinnings of social and moral order. The voice is ambiguous: this may still be the counsel of the fearful (vv.1–2), arguing that societal collapse makes flight reasonable, or it may be David's own lament given voice before the answer arrives in v.4. FOG renders it as an unfolding reality ('when') to capture ongoing destruction; FOG Message uses 'if' to preserve the rhetorical force — the desperate question that faith must answer when everything looks structurally lost.