12:1 [For the music director; ①upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.]
Help, LORD, for the godly person has come to an end,
For the faithful have disappeared from the sons of mankind.
▷ ①Or according to a lower octave (Heb Sheminith)
12:2 They speak ①lies to one another;
They speak with ②flattering lips and a double heart.
▷ ①Lit worthless speech ②Lit a smooth lip
12:3 May the LORD cut off all ①flattering lips,
The tongue that speaks great things;
▷ ①Lit a smooth lip
12:4 Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are ①our own; who is lord over us?”
▷ ①Lit with us
12:5 “Because of the devastation of the poor, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will put him in the safety for which he longs.”
12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words;
Like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, filtered seven times.
12:7 You, LORD, will keep them;
You will protect him from this generation forever.
12:8 The wicked strut about on every side
When ①vileness is exalted among the sons of mankind.
▷ ①Or worthlessness