Psalms 12

¹Help, Lord , for the godly man ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

²They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,

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

⁵“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord ; “I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

⁶The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.

⁷You shall keep them, O Lord , You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

⁸The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.