2 Vanity they speak each with his neighbour, Lip of flattery! With heart and heart they speak.
The words of his mouth `are' iniquity and deceit, He ceased to act prudently -- to do good. Iniquity he deviseth on his bed, He stationeth himself on a way not good, Evil he doth not refuse.'
Who doth give me in a wilderness A lodging-place of travellers? And I leave my people, and go from them, For all of them `are' adulterers, An assembly of treacherous ones. And they bend their tongue, their bow `is' a lie, And not for stedfastness have they been mighty in the land, For from evil unto evil they have gone forth, And Me they have not known, An affirmation of Jehovah! Each of his friend -- beware ye, And on any brother, do not trust, For every brother doth utterly supplant, For every friend slanderously doth walk, And each at his friend they mock, And truth they do not speak, They taught their tongue to speak falsehood, To commit iniquity they have laboured. thy dwelling `is' in the midst of deceit, Through deceit they refused to know Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.
To the Overseer. -- An instruction, by David, in the coming in of Doeg the Edomite, and he declareth to Saul, and saith to him, `David came in unto the house of Ahimelech.' What, boasteth thou in evil, O mighty one? The kindness of God `is' all the day. Mischiefs doth thy tongue devise, Like a sharp razor, working deceit. Thou hast loved evil rather than good, Lying, than speaking righteousness. Selah. Thou hast loved all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
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Commentary on Psalms 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 12
Ps 12:1-8. On title, see Introduction and see on Ps 6:1. The Psalmist laments the decrease of good men. The pride and deceit of the wicked provokes God's wrath, whose promise to avenge the cause of pious sufferers will be verified even amidst prevailing iniquity.
1. the faithful—or literally, "faithfulness" (Ps 31:23).
2. The want of it is illustrated by the prevalence of deceit and instability.
3, 4. Boasting (Da 7:25) is, like flattery, a species of lying.
lips, and … tongue—for persons.
5. The writer intimates his confidence by depicting God's actions (compare Ps 9:19; 10:12) as coming to save the poor at whom the wicked sneer (Ps 10:5).
6. The words—literally, "saying of" (Ps 12:5).
seven times—thoroughly (Da 3:19).
7. them—(Margin.)
8. The wicked roam undisturbed doing evil, when vileness and vile men are exalted.