Psalm Twelve

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.

Psalm 12:1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Psalm 12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

Psalm 12:3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:

Psalm 12:4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

Psalm 12:5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.

Psalm 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

purified seven times. The fires of anti-Christian persecution, caviling philosophies, literary criticism, scientific skepticism, pagan pantheism, cultic distortion, and apathetic indifference have been directed at God's Word, but it always emerges brighter and surer than ever.

Psalm 12:7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Thou shalt keep them. God has promised to guard His “pure words” (Psalm 12:6) through all future generations. Though the original autographs have long been lost or destroyed (possibly translated to heaven with the ark of the covenant—see note on 2 Chronicles 36:18; note on Revelation 11:19), His “words” on these autographs have been meticulously preserved generation after generation by dedicated scribes and scholars, so that we still have them today, as He promised. Even though scribes and scholars sometimes have to decide between variant readings in different manuscripts, we can be sure the original words are still there somewhere. Very few real questions remain about any of these, so we have the original to a very high degree of accuracy.

thou shalt preserve them. The preservation of the divinely given words of Scripture is incomparably superior to that of all other ancient writings. We can be confident that God has not allowed any of them to “pass away” (Matthew 24:35). They are forever “settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).

Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.