Psalms
Chapter 12
The psalm opens with a cry for help: honest, faithful people seem to have disappeared, and lying and flattery fill the land. The LORD answers that he will rise up because the poor are being crushed and the needy are groaning. The psalm sets human words that flatter and brag against the LORD's words, which are pure like refined silver, and it closes with the wicked still walking freely while worthless men are honored.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
1Help, LORD! People who love God are gone. Faithful people have disappeared from among us.
2They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
2Everyone tells lies to his neighbor. They speak flattering words, saying one thing while thinking another.
"They speak vanity" does not mean they are vain or proud. In 1611 "vanity" meant empty and worthless, so the line means their words are empty and untrue.
3The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
3The LORD will cut off every flattering lip and every tongue that brags.
4Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
4They say, "Our words will win. Our lips belong to us. Who is master 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.
5"The poor are crushed, and the needy are groaning. So now I will get up," says the LORD. "I will bring them to a safe place, away from those who sneer at them."
"Him that puffeth at him" is an old English way of describing someone who huffs or blows in contempt at another person, the way we would say sneers at him.
6The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
6The words of the LORD are pure. They are like silver melted in a clay furnace and cleaned seven times.
A "furnace of earth" is a furnace built of clay. Metal was melted in one so the dirt could be skimmed off, and doing it seven times meant the silver came out completely clean.
7Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
7LORD, you will keep them safe. You will guard them from these people forever.
8The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
8Wicked people walk around freely on every side, whenever the worst men are the ones who get honored.
← → to turn the page · P for plain English · click a verse to sit with it