Man’s Treachery and God’s Constancy

To the Chief Musician. On an eight-stringed harp.^[a] A Psalm of David.

12 Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases!For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.² They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³ May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,And the tongue that speaks proud things,⁴ Who 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.”

⁶ The words of the Lord are pure words,Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,Purified seven times.⁷ You shall keep them, O Lord,You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

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