Psalm 12

1Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men. 2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart. 3May Yahweh cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that boasts, 4who 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.” 6Yahweh’s words are flawless words, as silver refined in a clay furnace, purified seven times. 7You will keep them, Yahweh. You will preserve them from this generation forever. 8The wicked walk on every side, when what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.

It is supposed that David penned this psalm in Saul's reign, when there was a general decay of honesty and piety both in court and country, which he here complains of to God, and very feelingly, for he himself suffered by the treachery of his false friends and the insolence of his sworn enemies. I. He begs help of God, because there were none among men whom he durst trust (Psa 12:1, Psa 12:2). II. He foretels the destruction of his proud and threatening enemies (Psa 12:3, Psa 12:4). III. He assures himself and others that, how ill soever things went now (Psa 12:8), God would preserve and secure to himself his own people (Psa 12:5, Psa 12:7), and would certainly make good his promises to them (Psa 12:6). Whether this psalm was penned in Saul's reign or no, it is certainly calculated for a bad reign; and perhaps David, in spirit foresaw that some of his successors would bring things to as bad a pass as is here described, and treasured up this psalm for the use of the church then. "O tempora, O mores! - Oh the times! Oh the manners!"

To the chief musician upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.

Cross-references: Ps 12:1 · Ps 12:2 · Ps 12:3 · Ps 12:4 · Ps 12:8 · Ps 12:5 · Ps 12:7 · Ps 12:6

Introduction