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Psalm 12 | King James Audio Bible
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Psalm 12 is a reflective composition. This psalm delves into the theme of integrity and truthfulness in a world filled with deceit and shifting loyalties.
We are invited to imagine a time when it seems that honesty and trustworthiness are fading away. Psalm 12 captures this sentiment, as the psalmist contemplates the challenges of finding genuine people and reliable words.
At the outset, the psalmist cries out to the Lord for help, lamenting the scarcity of godly and faithful individuals among humankind. The psalm addresses the issue of insincere speech, where people converse with vanity and double hearts – saying one thing but meaning another.
Divine intervention is foreseen, as the psalmist anticipates the Lord silencing flattering lips and proud tongues that seek dominance. The psalm points out the arrogance of those who believe their words hold power, considering their speech independent of accountability.
Turning the focus to the oppressed and needy, the psalm reveals the Lord’s commitment to respond, promising safety and protection from those who belittle them. The psalm shifts to the theme of pure words. The psalmist compares divine words to silver purified through intense testing, highlighting their trustworthiness.
The psalmist expresses confidence that the Lord will guard and preserve these pure words, ensuring their endurance for generations to come.
Concluding on a somber note, the psalm observes that wickedness seems to thrive in a world where the most unscrupulous individuals rise to prominence.
Psalm 12 | King James Audio Bible KJV
Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
Key Themes Of The Psalm For Reflection | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
- Scarcity of Integrity: The psalm begins by lamenting the scarcity of godly and faithful people among humanity.
- Deceitful Speech: The psalm addresses the issue of insincere speech, highlighting how people often use flattering words and speak with a double heart.
- Divine Intervention: The psalmist foresees the Lord’s intervention, envisioning the silencing of those who use deceitful and proud speech.
- Arrogance and Accountability: The psalm examines the arrogance of those who believe their words are powerful and remain unchecked by authority.
- Protection for the Oppressed: The psalm shifts to the theme of God’s concern for the oppressed and needy, promising safety and protection from belittlement.
- Trustworthy Words: The psalm compares divine words to purified silver, emphasizing their trustworthiness and reliability.
- Divine Preservation: The psalm expresses confidence in God’s preservation of pure words, ensuring their endurance for future generations.
- Rise of Wickedness: The psalm concludes with an observation of wickedness thriving when the most unscrupulous individuals gain prominence.
- Integrity Amid Deceit: Psalm 12 focuses on the challenge of upholding integrity and truthfulness in a world filled with deceitful speech. It calls for divine intervention, underscores the value of trustworthy words, and reflects on the contrast between genuine individuals and the rise of wickedness.
- KJV Psalms | Psalm 22/21 | King James Bible | My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me | Crucifixion
Jesus references this psalm when he is on the Cross. ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.’ It is possible to read this utterance of the psalm as an act of despair. Certainly we might know of Jesus’ agony as he was crucified. We can only wonder at Jesus’ agony on the Cross. There are so many possible layers of the meaning here. At once, this utterance might seem to us an action of despair, or perhaps better of nullity, and at the same time an action of triumph, as the psalm moves to reaffirm and reinforces faith in God. The psalmist is abject. In a sense, he complains against God. He speaks of trust, and yet says that God does not answer. The psalmist considers his state – as a worm, scorned by men, mocked by men – the cause of God seems broken and lost. There is a deep and prolonged itemization of the physical poverty of the psalmist. Truly, this is a person at the most abject. Starving, dogs are set to prey on him. This is truth: the affirmation thereby of God-fear and God-love. This is Jesus. Jesus speaks to teach us how to pray through the psalms. This is a most important text – chosen by Jesus upon the Cross. We cannot assume irony. We cannot say that Jesus on the Cross recited this psalm as if having given up on his mission. We can only say that Jesus’s recitation of this psalm was perfect and that it was intended to express perfection. This is Christian prayer at the utmost. So much is fused. Jesus calls upon the Father – on the Cross. SO much of Jewish history is included and resolved. Jesus took so much upon himself. Jesus became the subject of these psalms. That is scary and that is triumph. There is a sense in which this should be Christian prayer.
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