Psalms 12

Help, LORD, because there are no godly people left. Loyal, trustworthy people have disappeared from among human beings.

1Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Note"LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, written with four consonants (YHWH). Jewish readers did not say the name aloud, substituting the ordinary word for "lord" or "master," and English translations follow that practice by printing LORD. Where "lord" appears in ordinary letters, as in verse 4, it is the everyday word for a master or owner. The word behind "godly" is *hasid*, which is not mainly about piety: it describes someone who keeps faith with others, sticks by commitments, and can be relied on. It is paired here with a second word of almost the same sense, "faithful."

2Everyone tells lies to his neighbor. They speak with lips that flatter and with a heart that is divided, saying one thing while meaning another.

2They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

Note"Flattering lips" is literally "smooth lips" in Hebrew, speech with nothing rough to catch on, so it slides past you. "A double heart" is literally "a heart and a heart": two hearts in one person, one for what is said and one for what is meant. In Hebrew the heart is where thinking and deciding happen, not mainly feeling.

3The LORD will cut off every flattering lip and every tongue that speaks boastful things.

3The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:

NoteThe Hebrew verb form can be read two ways, and translators divide over it: either as a flat statement of what the LORD will do, or as a wish or prayer, "may the LORD cut off." To "cut off" is a standard Hebrew idiom for removing or destroying something completely, not for silencing it temporarily.

4These are the people who have said, "We will win with our tongues. Our lips belong to us. Who is master over us?"

4Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

5"Because the poor are being crushed, and because the needy are groaning, I will now stand up," says the LORD. "I will set him in safety, away from the one who puffs at him."

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.

Note"I will arise" pictures someone standing up from a seat to act (a judge rising to give a verdict, or a defender getting to his feet to take a case up.) "Him that puffeth at him" translates a Hebrew phrase that is genuinely obscure, and translators have never agreed on it. The word may describe an oppressor snorting or blowing in contempt at his victim; the same consonants can also be read as the victim panting or longing for rescue, giving "I will set in safety the one who longs for it"; a third reading connects it to a root meaning to testify, giving "the one who testifies against him."

6The words of the LORD are pure words. They are like silver melted down in a furnace of clay and refined seven times over.

6The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

NoteSilver was purified by melting it in a crucible so that the impurities, called dross, rose to the surface and could be skimmed off; running the metal through the fire repeatedly produced a purer result each time. The Hebrew phrase behind "furnace of earth" is difficult, literally something like "in a crucible to the ground", and has been taken to mean a crucible made of fired clay, or one set into the ground. "Seven times" is the ordinary Hebrew way of saying completely or to the fullest degree, rather than an exact count.

7You will keep them safe, LORD. You will guard them from this generation forever.

7Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

NoteWhom or what "them" refers to is disputed, and the Hebrew does not settle it: it may be the poor and needy of verse 5, whom God has just promised to protect, or the words of the LORD in verse 6. The grammar is odd in a way that suggests a copying difficulty, and some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions read "us" rather than "them" in the first line.

8The wicked walk about on every side, free to do as they please, whenever what is vile is honored among people.

8The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Note"Walk on every side" pictures them roaming about unchallenged, going wherever they like because no one stops them. The second line can be read either as "when vileness is exalted among human beings" or as "when the vilest of people are the ones raised to honor"; the Hebrew supports both.