3 Jehovah will cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaketh great things;
and there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given to him authority to continue forty and two months.
I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, `saying', O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue; And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
They are inclosed in their own fat: With their mouth they speak proudly.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts (and their mouth speaketh great swelling `words'), showing respect of persons for the sake of advantage.
For, uttering great swelling `words' of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error;
And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God;-
As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
For I know not to give flattering titles; `Else' would my Maker soon take me away.
By thy messengers thou hast defied the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir-trees thereof; and I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.
And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the field.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 12
Commentary on Psalms 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 12
It is supposed that David penned this psalm in Saul's reign, when there was a general decay of honesty and piety both in court and country, which he here complains of to God, and very feelingly, for he himself suffered by the treachery of his false friends and the insolence of his sworn enemies.
Whether this psalm was penned in Saul's reign or no, it is certainly calculated for a bad reign; and perhaps David, in spirit foresaw that some of his successors would bring things to as bad a pass as is here described, and treasured up this psalm for the use of the church then. "O tempora, O mores!-Oh the times! Oh the manners!'
To the chief musician upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.
Psa 12:1-8
This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts for bad times, in which, though the prudent will keep silent (Amos 5:13) because a man may then be made an offender for a word, yet we may comfort ourselves with such suitable meditations and prayers as are here got ready to our hand.
In singing this psalm, and praying it over, we must bewail the general corruption of manners, thank God that things are not worse than they are, but pray and hope that they will be better in God's due time.