The Faithful Have Vanished

12 To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.1 A Psalm of David.

1  Save, O Lord, for mthe godly one is gone;

for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

2  Everyone nutters lies to his neighbor;

with oflattering lips and pa double heart they speak.

3  May the Lord cut off all oflattering lips,

the tongue that makes qgreat boasts,

4  those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,

our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

5  “Because rthe poor are plundered, because the needy groan,

sI will now arise,” says the Lord;

“I will place him in the tsafety for which he longs.”

6  uThe words of the Lord are pure words,

like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,

purified seven times.

7  You, O Lord, will keep them;

you will guard us2 from this generation forever.

8  On every side the wicked prowl,

as vileness is exalted among the children of man.