In these verses God declares that he owns all animals, wild and domestic, and all birds. The Hebrew text of verse 10b is unusual, and the meaning may be “and thousands of cattle in the hills” (see New English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

I know in verse 11a is used here in the sense of laying claim to; Anderson explains: “I have both knowledge of and mastery over.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “All the birds out there belong to me.”

Good News Translation “wild birds” in verse 11a translates the Masoretic text “birds of the hills” (see Revised Standard Version footnote; New Jerusalem Bible “every bird of the mountains”), which is an unusual phrase; the usual one is “birds of the air,” as in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. These two verses form a chiasmus in the Hebrew, and the poet undoubtedly used “of the mountains” to correspond to on a thousand hills in the previous line. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project also prefers the Masoretic text (“C” decision). The meaning, however, is the same, namely “wild birds.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .