Psalm 12
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of King David. Save,
O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O LORD, will keep them; You will guard us from this generation forever.
On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man. (ESV)
1. The Lament: A World Where Truth has Vanished
1.1 The Cry for Help (v1)
1.2 The Diagnosis: Lying, Flattering, Divided Speech (v2)
1.3 The Boast of Self-Sufficient Speech (vv3–4)
2. The Confidence: The LORD Arises and His Words are Pure
2.1 God’s Answer to the Oppressed (v5)
2.2 The Purity of God’s Words, Contrasted with Man’s (v6)
3. The Trust: God Will Keep His People even Now
3.1 The Promise of Preservation (v7)
3.2 The Sober Realism of verse 8