Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 12 (MT) / Psalm 11 (LXX) is a lament about the loss of the faithful and the corruption of speech in society — 'smooth lips and a double heart' (v. 3). The divine response at v. 6 ('I will arise') is the LORD's commitment to the plundered-poor. Verse 7's 'the words of the LORD are pure words, silver refined seven times' establishes one of the Hebrew Bible's strongest statements of scriptural-purity.
Notable Variants
The 'smooth lips and double heart' speech-corruption theology at 12:3; the 'seven times purified' words of the LORD at 12:7 supplying scriptural-inspiration theology; the 'I will arise' divine-commitment formula at 12:6.
Structural Notes
MT Ps 12 = LXX Ps 11. TCR follows MT numbering; LXX has 9 verses.
For the choirmaster. On the sheminith. A psalm of David.
Superscription 'on the sheminith' ('on the eighth' — musical-technical term, possibly eight-stringed instrument or eighth musical-mode) tracks MT. Same term appears at Psalm 6:1.
Save us, LORD, for the faithful are gone! The trustworthy have vanished from among the children of humanity.
'The faithful are gone' (hosios eklelipen) tracks MT. Hosioi — 'pious ones, faithful ones' — is the LXX-Psalms vocabulary for the covenantally-faithful remnant. The lament of disappearing-faithfulness becomes a recurrent biblical theme (Micah 7:2, Isa 57:1).
They speak emptiness to one another, with smooth lips and a double heart they speak.
'Smooth lips and a double heart' (en kardia kai en kardia — 'in a heart and a heart') tracks MT. The double-heart / hypocrisy-of-speech motif is biblical-wisdom-staple. James 1:8's 'double-minded man' (dipsychos) is the NT equivalent. Proverbs 26:24–28 develops the smooth-lips-hiding-hate theme.
May the LORD cut off all smooth lips, the tongue that speaks boastfully —
Prayer for judgment on deceitful speech tracks MT.
those who say, 'With our tongue we will prevail! Our lips are with us — who is master over us?'
'With our tongue we will prevail — who is master over us?' tracks MT. The speaker-self-sovereignty claim — 'no master over us' — is paradigmatic human-rebellion (echoes Psalm 2:3).
'Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, now I will arise,' declares the LORD. 'I will place him in the safety he longs for.'
'Now I will arise' tracks MT. The divine-response to cries-of-the-poor becomes the Magnificat-theology (Luke 1:52–53).
The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.
Masoretic (WLC)
אִמְרוֹת יְהוָה אֲמָרוֹת טְהֹרוֹת כֶּסֶף צָרוּף בַּעֲלִיל לָאָרֶץ מְזֻקָּק שִׁבְעָתָיִם
The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times
Septuagint (LXX)
τὰ λόγια κυρίου λόγια ἁγνά ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον δοκίμιον τῇ γῇ κεκαθαρισμένον ἑπταπλασίως
The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, as silver tried by fire on the earth, purified seven times
SCRIPTURAL-PURITY THEOLOGY. 'The oracles of the LORD are pure oracles' (ta logia kyriou logia hagna) is one of the Hebrew Bible's strongest statements of Scripture-quality. The LXX's logia kyriou ('oracles of the Lord') is the exact phrase that Romans 3:2 uses: 'the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God' (ta logia tou theou).
The 'seven times purified' (heptaplasios) image becomes a standing Christian tradition for scriptural inspiration: perfectly refined, without remainder of dross. 2 Peter 1:21 ('men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit') articulates the same confidence.
The seven-fold purification contrasts with the wicked's 'smooth lips' of v. 3: human speech-corruption vs. divine speech-purity.
You, LORD, will guard them; you will protect us from this generation forever.
'You will guard them' tracks MT. The protection-from-this-generation theology parallels Jesus' 'keep them from the evil one' at John 17:15.
The wicked prowl on every side when worthlessness is exalted among the children of humanity.
Closing lament on the prowling-of-the-wicked tracks MT. 'Worthlessness exalted' — the cultural-inversion that elevates worthless figures — is the biblical-prophetic critique of upside-down value-systems (Isa 5:20).