The second tristich appeals to the infallible decision of God Himself. The verb השׁקיף means to look forth, by bending one's self forward. It is the proper word for looking out of a window, 2 Kings 9:30 (cf. Niph. Judges 5:28, and frequently), and for God's looking down from heaven upon the earth, Psalm 102:20, and frequently; and it is cognate and synonymous with השׁגּיח, Psalm 33:13, Psalm 33:14; cf. moreover, Sol 2:9. The perf. is used in the sense of the perfect only insofar as the divine survey is antecedent to its result as given in Psalm 14:3. Just as השׁהיתוּ reminds one of the history of the Flood, so does לראות of the history of the building of the tower of Babel, Genesis 11:5, cf. Psalm 18:21. God's judgment rests upon a knowledge of the matter of fact, which is represented in such passages after the manner of men. God's all-seeing, all-piercing eyes scrutinise the whole human race. Is there one who shows discernment in thought and act, one to whom fellowship with God is the highest good, and consequently that after which he strives? - this is God's question, and He delights in such persons, and certainly none such would escape His longing search. On את־אלהים, τὸν Θεόν, vid., Ges. 117, 2.

Psalm 15:1 Parallel Commentaries

abide. Heb. sojourn
holy

Psalm 2:6 Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion.

Psalm 3:4 I cried to the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

Psalm 43:3,4 O send out your light and your truth: let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill, and to your tabernacles...

Psalm 87:1-3 His foundation is in the holy mountains...

Hebrews 12:22 But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, see, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand...