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Silence the Flattering Lips

Psalm 12

For the music director, on the eight-string lyre, a psalm of David.
Help, Adonai! For no one godly exists.
For the faithful have vanished from the children of men.
Everyone tells a lie to his neighbor,
talking with flattering lips and a divided heart.
May Adonai cut off all flattering lips—
a tongue bragging big things.
They say: “With our tongue we’ll prevail.
We own our lips—who can master us?”

“Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy,
now will I arise,” says Adonai.
“I will put him in the safe place—he pants for it.”
The words of Adonai are pure words—
like silver refined in an earthly crucible,
    purified seven times.
You will keep us safe, Adonai.
You will protect us from this generation forever.
The wicked strut all around,
while vileness is exalted by mankind.

The Faithful Have Vanished

To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.[a] A Psalm of David.

12 Save, O Lord, for (A)the godly one is gone;
    for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone (B)utters lies to his neighbor;
    with (C)flattering lips and (D)a double heart they speak.

May the Lord cut off all (E)flattering lips,
    the tongue that makes (F)great boasts,
those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
    our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

“Because (G)the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
    (H)I will now arise,” says the Lord;
    “I will place him in the (I)safety for which he longs.”
(J)The words of the Lord are pure words,
    like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
    purified seven times.

You, O Lord, will keep them;
    you will guard us[b] from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl,
    as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 12:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
  2. Psalm 12:7 Or guard him