Psalm 12
Help, Lord, for there is not one godly man left
: the faithful have vanished from among the children of men.
Everyone tells lies to his neighbour
: they flatter with their lips, but speak from a double heart.
If only the Lord would cut off all flattering lips
: and the tongue that speaks so proudly!
They say ‘By our tongues we shall prevail
: our lips are our servants
who is lord over us?’
Because of the oppression of the poor,
because of the groaning of the needy :
‘I will arise’, says the Lord,
‘and set them in safety from those that snarl after them.’
The words of the Lord are pure, as silver refined in a crucible :
as gold that is seven times purified in the fire.
You will surely guard us, O Lord :
and shield us for ever from this evil generation,
Though the ungodly strut on every side :
though the vilest of men have mastery of mankind.