1
Help, 1 LORD, for the godly man a ceases!
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2
b They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and 2 a double heart they speak.
3
May the LORD 3 cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks 4 proud things,
4
Who have said,
"With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?"
5
"For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise," says the LORD;
"I will set him in the safety for which he yearns."
6
The words of the LORD are c pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
7
You shall keep them, O LORD,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8
The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.