Psalm 12
For the Chief Musician; upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.
1 Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases.
For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 Everyone lies to his neighbor.
They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
3 May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that boasts,
4 who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail.
Our lips are our own.
Who is lord over us?”
5 “Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise,” says Yahweh;
“I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”
6 Yahweh’s words are flawless words,
as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times.
7 You will keep them, Yahweh.
You will preserve them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked walk on every side,
when what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.
+1:2“Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.+2:2The word “Anointed” is the same as the word for “Messiah” or “Christ”+2:4The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”+2:12or, Kiss the son+3:2The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).+6:5Sheol is the place of the dead.+7:14“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.+8:5Hebrew: Elohim. The word Elohim, used here, usually means “God”, but can also mean “gods”, “princes”, or “angels”. The Septuagint reads “angels” here.+9:17Sheol is the place of the dead.