Psalms 12

1 For the leader; on the sheminith. A psalm of David. Help, Lord, for the good are all gone, faithful people have vanished.

For the music director. To the Sheminith. A psalm of David. Help, Lord, for all the good people have gone! Those who trust in you have disappeared from among the people on earth.

2 One lies to another, speaking empty lies, with flattering lips and false hearts they speak.

Everyone lies to their neighbors. They flatter with nice talk, but they don't mean what they say.

3 May the Lord cut off all the flattering lips, and the tongue that utters arrogance,

Stop their flattery, Lord, and silence their boasts—

4 they declare, ‘Our tongue is our strength, our allies our lips: who is lord over us?’

these people who say, “We will succeed through what we say; our mouths belong to us. We don't take orders from anyone!”

5 ‘The poor are despoiled, and the needy are sighing; so now I will act,’ the Lord declares ‘And place them in the safety they long for.’

“Because of the violence the helpless have suffered, and because of the groans of the poor, I will rise up to defend them,” says the Lord. “I will give them the protection they have been longing for.”

6 The words of the Lord are words that are pure, silver smelted, seven times refined.

What the Lord says is trustworthy, as pure as silver refined seven times in a furnace.

7 You will keep us, Lord, and guard us from this generation forever,

You, Lord will keep the oppressed safe; you will protect us from these kinds of people forever;

8 in a world where the wicked prowl, and worthless people exalted.

even though the wicked are all around us, and evil is being promoted everywhere.