Psalm 12

A Prayer for Protection from Lies

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by an eight-stringed instrument.*12: title Hebrew according to the sheminith.

1Help, O Lord, for the godly are fast disappearing!

The faithful have vanished from the earth!

2Neighbors lie to each other,

speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts.

3May the Lord cut off their flattering lips

and silence their boastful tongues.

4They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content.

Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”

5The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless,

and I have heard the groans of the poor.

Now I will rise up to rescue them,

as they have longed for me to do.”

6The Lord’s promises are pure,

like silver refined in a furnace,

purified seven times over.

7Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed,

preserving them forever from this lying generation,

8even though the wicked strut about,

and evil is praised throughout the land.