Psalm 11:title–12:8

The Lord a Refuge and Defense.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

¹In the Lord I ^atake refuge;

How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your ^bmountain;

²For, behold, the wicked ^abend the bow,

They ^1bmake ready their arrow upon the string

To ^cshoot in darkness at the upright in heart.

³If the ^afoundations are destroyed,

What can the righteous do?”

⁴The Lord is in His ^aholy temple; the ¹Lord’s ^bthrone is in heaven;

His ^ceyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

⁵The Lord ^atests the righteous and ^bthe wicked,

And the one who loves violence His soul hates.

⁶Upon the wicked He will ^arain ¹snares;

^bFire and brimstone and ^cburning wind will be the portion of ^dtheir cup.

⁷For the Lord is ^arighteous, ^bHe loves ¹righteousness;

The upright will ^cbehold His face.

PSALM 12

God, a Helper against the Treacherous.

For the choir director; ^†upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.

¹Help, Lord, for ^athe godly man ceases to be,

For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

²They ^aspeak ¹falsehood to one another;

With ^bflattering ²lips and with a double heart they speak.

³May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,

The tongue that ^aspeaks great things;

⁴Who ^ahave said, “With our tongue we will prevail;

Our lips are ¹our own; who is lord over us?”

⁵“Because of the ^adevastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,

Now ^bI will arise,” says the Lord; “I will ^cset him in the safety for which he longs.”

⁶The ^awords of the Lord are pure words;

As silver ^btried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

⁷You, O Lord, will keep them;

You will ^apreserve him from this generation forever.

⁸The ^awicked strut about on every side

When ^1bvileness is exalted among the sons of men.