Psalm 11:1–12:8

¹In Jehovah do I take refuge:

How say ye to my soul,

Flee as a bird to your mountain;

²For, lo, the wicked bend the bow,

They make ready their arrow upon the string,

That they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart;

³If the foundations be destroyed,

What can the righteous do?

⁴Jehovah is in his holy temple;

Jehovah, his throne is in heaven;

His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

⁵Jehovah trieth the righteous;

But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

⁶Upon the wicked he will rain snares;

Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷For Jehovah is righteous;

He loveth righteousness:

The upright shall behold his face.

Psalm 12

For the Chief Musician; set to the Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

¹Help, Jehovah; for the godly man ceaseth;

For the faithful fail from among the children of men.

²They speak falsehood every one with his neighbor:

With flattering lip, and with a double heart, do they speak.

³Jehovah will cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that speaketh great things;

⁴Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail;

Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?

⁵Because of the oppression of the poor, because of the sighing of the needy,

Now will I arise, saith Jehovah;

I will set him in the safety he panteth for.

⁶The words of Jehovah are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth,

Purified seven times.

⁷Thou wilt keep them, O Jehovah,

Thou wilt preserve them from this generation for ever.

⁸The wicked walk on every side,

When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.