Psalm 12

The pure words of the Lord

The psalmist cries for help as the godly are few and flattering lips abound, yet the Lord will cut off falsehood; the words of the Lord are pure, refined like silver seven times.

8 verses. The 12th of 150 chapters in Psalms, in Poetry and Wisdom.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matthew Henry on Psalm 12

2,392 words, in 1 passage.

  1. Verses 1–8Complaints of the Times.

King James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.