Psalm 12
12
A Prayer for Help against the Wicked
To the chief Musician upon Shem´inith, A Psalm of David.
1Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth;
for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2They speak vanity every one with his neighbor:
with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
4who have said, With our tongue will we prevail;
our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
now will I arise, saith the Lord;
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
6The words of the Lord are pure words:
as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
8The wicked walk on every side,
when the vilest men are exalted.
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Psalm 12: KJVAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Psalms 12
12
(A psalm by David for the music leader.#Psalm 12 leader: The Hebrew text adds “according to the sheminith”, which may be a musical instrument with eight strings.)
A prayer for help
1Please help me, LORD!
All who were faithful
and all who were loyal
have disappeared.
2Everyone tells lies,
and no one is sincere.
3Won't you chop off
all flattering tongues
that boast so loudly?
4They say to themselves,
“We are great speakers.
No one else has a chance.”
5But you, LORD, tell them,
“I will do something!
The poor are ill-treated
and helpless people moan.
I'll rescue all who suffer.”
6Our LORD, you are true
to your promises,
and your word is like silver
heated seven times
in a fiery furnace.#12.6 in a fiery furnace: The Hebrew text has “in a furnace to the ground”, which may describe part of a process for refining silver in Old Testament times.
7You will protect us
and always keep us safe
from those people.
8But all who are wicked
will keep on strutting,
while everyone praises
their shameless deeds.#12.8 while…deeds: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012