Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 12:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 12:2. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour — They are false and hollow; they say one thing while they mean another; there is no trusting to what they say.

Flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak — בלב ולב beleb valeb, "With a heart and a heart." They seem to have two hearts; one to speak fair words, and the other to invent mischief. The old MS. both translates and paraphrases curiously.

Trans. Dayn spak ilkan til his neghbur: swykil lippis in hert, and thurgh hert thai spak.

Par. - Sothfastnes es lessed, and falsed waxes: and al sa vayn spak ilkone to bygyle his neghbur: and many spendes thair tyme in vayne speche withoutyn profyte and gastely frute. And that er swyku lippis; that er jangelers berkand ogaynes sothfastnes. And swykel, for thai speke in hert and thurgh hert; that es in dubil hert, qwen a fals man thynkes ane, and sais another, to desaif hym that he spekes with.

This homely comment cannot be mended.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 11-13 Persevere . . . or give in?

There came a time when David became tired of his continual flight from Saul, not just because it was wearying, but because it was cutting him off from the public worship places of God’s people (1 Samuel 26:19). His spiritual life was weakened and he gave in to the temptation to leave his own country for the safety of enemy Philistia (1 Samuel 27:1). This is the sort of temptation that David considers in Psalms 11:0, the temptation to go along with wrongdoing instead of resisting it.

If people act solely according to common sense, their suggestion in such a crisis will probably be to do what creates least hardship. After all (so the argument runs), if there is no law and order in the community, and if people in positions of power have set themselves to do evil, what can a righteous person gain by trying to resist (11:1-3)? David replies that such action really shows a lack of understanding of God’s holiness and no respect for his authority. God sees and understands all. He will pour out his wrath on the wicked, but he will comfort the faithful with the security of his presence (4-7).

The theme of Psalms 10:0 and 11 continues in Psalms 12:0, and indeed right through to Psalms 17:0. Ungodly people hold all the positions of power and pay no attention to the opinions of those who walk in God’s ways. They maintain their authority and influence only by twisting, ignoring or withholding the truth (12:1-4). But God sees and knows. He promises to protect the godly, and his promises can be trusted (5-6). His people know that their only hope is in him (7-8).

Continual persecution can be hard to bear. It tries the psalmist’s patience to the limit, causing him to cry out to God, almost in despair, asking when will God deliver him from his troubles (13:1-2). If he dies, his enemies will think they have won the battle against him (3-4). However, the very act of crying out to God lightens his burden. It reminds him that the one to whom he cries has bound himself to his people with a covenant love, and he will not fail (5-6).

God’s steadfast love

Frequently the psalmists rejoice in a characteristic of God that RSV translates as ‘steadfast love’, GNB translates as ‘constant love’, and other versions translate as ‘loyalty’, ‘love’, ‘mercy’, ‘kindness’ and ‘loving kindness’. These are all translations of the Hebrew word chesed, which has the meaning of covenant loyalty or faithfulness.

A covenant was an agreement between two parties that carried with it obligations and blessings. Chesed was a particularly strong form of love, which bound a person to be faithful and loyal to the other party in the covenant. In the Psalms the word is used frequently to denote the loyal love and covenant faithfulness that God exercises towards his people through all their trials and joys (e.g Psalms 13:5; Psalms 25:7).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Help, Jehovah; for the godly man ceaseth; For the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak falsehood everyone with his neighbor: With flattering lips and a double heart, do they speak.”

It would seem that the small remnant of the righteous which always existed in Israel was here forgotten in these first two verses, or perhaps we have merely an hyperbole for the sake of emphasis.

The universality of wickedness among the rebellious sons of Adam has been throughout human history a frequently recurring phenomenon. The particular type of immorality that existed in the situation described here seems to have been that of speech. An entire society had completely lost control of their tongues. Falsehood, flattery, deceit, slander, gossip, hypocrisy, derogation, belittling, discrediting, libel, calumniation, traducement, backbiting, cheating, misleading, tricking, hoaxing, and victimizing are just a few of the sins of the tongue; and the three particular ones mentioned in these two verses are to be understood merely as examples of the countless outrages perpetrated by tongues out of control.

“These two verses are a statement of the prevailing condition of things, announced here as a reason why it was proper for God to interpose.”Albert Barnes, The Psalms. Vol. I (Baker Book House, 1950), p. 104.

The very basis of Christianity is that of absolute truthfulness, sincerity, and love. No child of God may lawfully do anything other than “Speak the truth” (Ephesians 4:15). Moreover, the Scriptures specifically promise that “All liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They speak vanity - This is a statement of the “manner” in which the “godly” and the “faithful” fail, as stated in Psalms 12:1. One of the ways was that there was a disregard of truth; that no confidence could be placed on the statements of those who professed to be pious; that they dealt falsely with their neighbors. The word “vanity” here is equivalent to “falsehood.” What they spoke was a vain and empty thing, instead of being the truth. It had no reality, and could not be depended on.

Every one with his neighbour - In his statements and promises. No reliance could be placed on his word.

With flattering lips - Hebrew, “Lips of smoothness.” The verb from which the word used here is derived - חלק chālaq - means properly to divide, to distribute; then, to make things equal or smooth; then, to make smooth or to shape, as an artisan does, as with a plane; and then, “to make things smooth with the tongue,” that is, “to flatter.” See Psalms 5:9; Proverbs 5:3; Proverbs 26:28; Proverbs 28:23; Proverbs 29:5. The meaning is, that no confidence could be placed in the statements made. There was no certainty that they were founded on truth; none that they were not intended to deceive. Flattery is the ascribing of qualities to another which he is known not to possess - usually with some sinister or base design.

And with a double heart - Margin, as in Hebrew, “a heart and a heart;” that is, as it were, with two hearts, one that gives utterance to the words, and the other that retains a different sentiment. Thus, in Deuteronomy 25:13, the phrase in Hebrew, “a stone and a stone” means, as it is translated, “divers weights” - one stone or weight to buy with, and another to sell with. So the flatterer. He has one heart to give utterance to the words which he uses toward his neighbor, and another that conceals his real purpose or design. No confidence, therefore, could be placed in such persons. Compare the note at Job 32:22.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

2.Every man speaketh deceit. David in this verse sets forth that part of unrighteousness which is contrary to truth. He says that there is no sincerity or uprightness in their speech, because the great object upon which they are bent is to deceive. He next describes the manner in which they deceive, namely, that every man endeavors to ensnare his neighbor by flattery ⁽²⁵⁷⁾ He also points out the fountain and first cause of this, They speak with a double heart. This doubleness of heart, as I may term it, makes men double and variable in their speech, in order thereby to disguise themselves in different ways, ⁽²⁵⁸⁾ or to make themselves appear to others different from what they really are. Hence the Hebrew word חלקות, chalakoth, which denotes flattery, is derived from a word which signifies division. As those who are resolved to act truthfully in their intercourse with their neighbors, freely and ingenuously lay open their whole heart; so treacherous and deceitful persons keep a part of their feeling hidden within their own breasts, and cover it with the varnish of hypocrisy and a fair outside; so that from their speech we cannot gather any thing certain with respect to their intentions. Our speech, therefore, must be sincere in order that it may be as it were a mirror, in which the uprightness of our heart may be beheld.

(257) Horsley reads “smooth lips.” “Not smooth,” says he, “with flattery, but with glossing lies, with ensnaring eloquence and specious arguments in support of the wretched cause which they espouse.”

(258) “Pour se disguiser en diverses sortes.” — Fr.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 12:1-8

The chief musician upon octaves, the psalm of David. Psalms 12:1-8 .

Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men ( Psalms 12:1 ).

Remember when Elijah said, "Lord, they have all bowed their knee to Baal and I, only I am left. Lord, the righteous man ceases. There is none left."

"Help, Lord. The faithful fail from among children of men."

They speak emptiness every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and a double heart do they speak ( Psalms 12:2 ).

He has been around Hollywood.

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue of those that speak 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, and for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD ( Psalms 12:3-5 );

So God's answer. He is praying, "Help, Lord. The godly ceaseth. People are just, you know, speaking vanity, everyone with his neighbor, flattering, and they are saying 'Hey, we'll do it with our lips, you know. We'll prevail with our tongues and all.'" And so God answers, "For the oppression of the poor and 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 ( Psalms 12:5 ).

And so the psalmist responds,

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 ( Psalms 12:6-8 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

It seemed to David, as it did to Elijah years later, that the godly had almost become extinct in Israel (cf. Psalms 11:2-3; 1 Kings 19:10). Liars and double-minded flatterers had gradually replaced people who were true to their word and commitments. This is hyperbolic language, but David used it to remind God indirectly of His covenant promises to bless the godly. "Faithful" (Psalms 12:1) is hasid that relates to hesed, which means loyal love or covenant loyalty.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Plea for deliverance 12:1-4

The multitude of liars and deceivers that surrounded David moved him to cry out to God for deliverance for the godly minority.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 12

David placed great confidence in the promises of God to deliver those who look to Him for salvation. This was not easy for the psalmist to do, since in his day powerful wicked people were taking advantage of the weak and vulnerable (cf. Psalms 11:3). The genre of this psalm is probably a community lament with a statement of confidence in God.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They speak vanity everyone with his neighbour,.... That which is false and a lie, either doctrinal or practical; what was not according to the word of God, and was vain and empty, frothy, filthy, and corrupt; and which no godly and faithful man would do. And this being done in common, by the generality of men, one with another, shows the degeneracy of the age, and supports the complaint before made. They speak even

[with] flattering lips; as Cain did to Abel, Joab to Amasa, the Herodians to Christ, Judas to his Master, false teachers to those that are simple, hypocrites to God himself, when they draw nigh to him only with their lips, and all formal professors to the churches of Christ, when they profess themselves to be what they are not. And this is a further proof of the justness of the above complaint;

[and] with a double heart do they speak: or "with an heart and an heart" d; such are double minded men, who say one thing, and mean another; their words are not to be depended upon; there is no faithfulness in them. The Chinese e reckon a man of "two hearts", as they call him, a very wicked man, and none more remote from honesty.

d בלב ולב "in corde & corde", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus. e Martin. Sinic. Hist. p. 144. a heart having διχομυθον νοημα, a double meaning, as Pittacus says, Laert. in Vit. Pittac. l. 1. p. 53.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

To the chief musician upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.

      1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.   2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.   3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:   4 Who have said, With our tongue will we 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 will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.   6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.   7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.   8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

      This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts for bad times, in which, though the prudent will keep silent (Amos 5:13) because a man may then be made an offender for a word, yet we may comfort ourselves with such suitable meditations and prayers as are here got ready to our hand.

      I. Let us see here what it is that makes the times bad, and when they may be said to be so. Ask the children of this world what it is in their account that makes the times bad, and they will tell you, Scarcity of money, decay of trade, and the desolations of war, make the times bad. But the scripture lays the badness of the times upon causes of another nature. 2 Timothy 3:1, Perilous times shall come, for iniquity shall abound; and that is the thing David here complains of.

      1. When there is a general decay of piety and honesty among men the times are then truly bad (Psalms 12:1; Psalms 12:1): When the godly man ceases and the faithful fail. Observe how these two characters are here put together, the godly and the faithful. As there is no true policy, so there is no true piety, without honesty. Godly men are faithful men, fast men, so they have sometimes been called; their word is as confirming as their oath, as binding as their bond; they make conscience of being true both to God and man. They are here said to cease and fail, either by death or by desertion, or by both. Those that were godly and faithful were taken away, and those that were left had sadly degenerated and were not what they had been; so that there were few or no good people that were Israelites indeed to be met with. Perhaps he meant that there were no godly faithful men among Saul's courtiers; if he meant there were few or none in Israel, we hope he was under the same mistake that Elijah was, who thought he only was left alone, when God had 7000 who kept their integrity (Romans 11:3); or he meant that there were few in comparison; there was a general decay of religion and virtue (and the times are bad, very bad, when it is so), not a man to be found that executes judgment, Jeremiah 5:1.

      2. When dissimulation and flattery have corrupted and debauched all conversation, then the times are very bad (Psalms 12:2; Psalms 12:2), when men are generally so profligate that they make no conscience of a lie, are so spiteful as to design against their neighbours the worst of mischiefs, and yet so base as to cover the design with the most specious and plausible pretences and professions of friendship. Thus they speak vanity (that is, falsehood and a lie) every one to his neighbour, with flattering lips and a double heart. They will kiss and kill (as Joab did Abner and Amasa in David's own time), will smile in your face and cut your throat. This is the devil's image complete, a complication of malice and falsehood. The times are bad indeed when there is no such thing as sincerity to be met with, when an honest man knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust, nor dares put confidence in a friend, in a guide, Micah 7:5; Micah 7:6; Jeremiah 9:4; Jeremiah 9:5. Woe to those who help to make the times thus perilous.

      3. When the enemies of God, and religion, and religious people, are impudent and daring, and threaten to run down all that is just and sacred, then the times are very bad, when proud sinners have arrived at such a pitch of impiety as to say, "With our tongue will we prevail against the cause of virtue; our lips are our own and we may say what we will; who is lord over us, either to restrain us or to call us to an account?" Psalms 12:4; Psalms 12:4. This bespeaks, (1.) A proud conceit of themselves and confidence in themselves, as if the point were indeed gained by eating forbidden fruit, and they were as gods, independent and self-sufficient, infallible in their knowledge of good and evil and therefore fit to be oracles, irresistible in their power and therefore fit to be lawgivers, that could prevail with their tongues, and, like God himself, speak and it is done. (2.) An insolent contempt of God's dominion as if he had no propriety in them--Our lips are our own (an unjust pretension, for who made man's mouth, in whose hand is his breath, and whose is the air he breathes in?) and as if he had no authority either to command them or to judge them: Who is Lord over us? Like Pharaoh, Exodus 5:1. This is as absurd and unreasonable as the former; for he in whom we live, and move, and have our being, must needs be, by an indisputable title, Lord over us.

      4. When the poor and needy are oppressed, and abused, and puffed at, then the times are very bad. This is implied (Psalms 12:5; Psalms 12:5) where God himself takes notice of the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy; they are oppressed because they are poor, have all manner of wrong done them merely because they are not in a capacity to right themselves. Being thus oppressed, they dare not speak for themselves, lest their defence should be made their offence; but they sigh, secretly bemoaning their calamities, and pouring out their souls in sighs before God. If their oppressors be spoken to on their behalf, they puff at them, make light of their own sin and the misery of the poor, and lay neither to heart; see Psalms 10:5.

      5. When wickedness abounds, and goes barefaced, under the protection and countenance of those in authority, then the times are very bad, Psalms 12:8; Psalms 12:8. When the vilest men are exalted to places of trust and power (who, instead of putting the laws in execution against vice and injustice and punishing the wicked according to their merits, patronise and protect them, give them countenance, and support their reputation by their own example), then the wicked walk on every side; they swarm in all places, and go up and down seeking to deceive, debauch, and destroy others; they are neither afraid nor ashamed to discover themselves; they declare their sin as Sodom and there is none to check or control them. Bad men are base men, the vilest of men, and they are so though they are ever so highly exalted in this world. Antiochus the illustrious the scripture calls a vile person,Daniel 11:21. But it is bad with a kingdom when such are preferred; no marvel if wickedness then grows impudent and insolent. When the wicked bear rule the people mourn.

      II. Let us now see what good thoughts we are here furnished with for such bad times; and what times we may yet be reserved for we cannot tell. When times are thus bad it is comfortable to think,

      1. That we have a God to go to, from whom we may ask and expect the redress of all our grievances. This he begins with (Psalms 12:1; Psalms 12:1): "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth. All other helps and helpers fail; even the godly and faithful, who should lend a helping hand to support the dying cause of religion, are gone, and therefore whither shall we seek but to thee?" Note, When godly faithful people cease and fail it is time to cry, Help, Lord! The abounding of iniquity threatens a deluge. "Help, Lord, help the virtuous; few seek to hold fast their integrity, and to stand in the gap; help to save thy own interest in the world from sinking. It is time for thee, Lord, to work."

      2. That God will certainly reckon with false and proud men, and will punish and restrain their insolence. They are above the control of men and set them at defiance. Men cannot discover the falsehood of flatterers, nor humble the haughtiness of those that speak proud things; but the righteous God will cut off all flattering lips, that give the traitor's kiss and speak words softer then oil when war is in the heart; he will pluck out the tongue that speaks proud things against God and religion, Psalms 12:3; Psalms 12:3. Some translate it as a prayer, "May God cut off those false and spiteful lips." Let lying lips be put to silence.

      3. That God will, in due time, work deliverance for his oppressed people, and shelter them from the malicious designs of their persecutors (Psalms 12:5; Psalms 12:5): Now, will I arise, saith the Lord. This promise of God, which David here delivered by the spirit of prophecy, is an answer to that petition which he put up to God by the spirit of prayer. "Help, Lord," says he; "I will," says God; "here I am, with seasonable and effectual help." (1.) It is seasonable, in the fittest time. [1.] When the oppressors are in the height of their pride and insolence--when they say, Who is lord over us?--then is God's time to let them know, to their cost, that he is above them. [2.] When the oppressed are in the depth of their distress and despondency, when they are sighing like Israel in Egypt by reason of the cruel bondage, then is God's time to appear for them, as for Israel when they were most dejected and Pharaoh was most elevated. Now will I arise. Note, There is a time fixed for the rescue of oppressed innocency; that time will come, and we may be sure it is the fittest time, Psalms 102:13. (2.) It is effectual: I will set him in safety, or in salvation, not only protect him, but restore him to his former prosperity, will bring him out into a wealthy place (Psalms 66:12), so that, upon the whole, he shall lose nothing by his sufferings.

      4. That, though men are false, God is faithful; though they are not to be trusted, God is. They speak vanity and flattery, but the words of the Lord are pure words (Psalms 12:6; Psalms 12:6), not only all true, but all pure, like silver tried in a furnace of earth or a crucible. It denotes, (1.) The sincerity of God's word, every thing is really as it is there represented and not otherwise; it does not jest with us, not impose upon us, nor has it any other design towards us than our own good. (2.) The preciousness of God's word; it is of great and intrinsic value, like silver refined to the highest degree; it has nothing in it to depreciate it. (3.) The many proofs that have been given of its power and truth; it has been often tried, all the saints in all ages have trusted it and so tried it, and it never deceived them nor frustrated their expectation, but they have all set to their seal that God's word is true, with an Experto crede--Trust one that has made trial; they have found it so. Probably this refers especially to these promises of succouring and relieving the poor and oppressed. Their friends put them in hopes that they will do something for them, and yet prove a broken reed; but the words of God are what we may rely upon; and the less confidence is to be put in men's words let us with the more assurance trust in God's word.

      5. That God will secure his chosen remnant to himself, how bad soever the times are (Psalms 12:7; Psalms 12:7): Thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. This intimates that, as long as the world stands, there will be a generation of proud and wicked men in it, more or less, who will threaten by their wretched arts to ruin religion, by wearing out the saints of the Most High,Daniel 7:25. But let God alone to maintain his own interest and to preserve his own people. He will keep them from this generation, (1.) From being debauched by them and drawn away from God, from mingling with them and learning their works. In times of general apostasy the Lord knows those that are his, and they shall be enabled to keep their integrity. (2.) From being destroyed and rooted out by them. The church is built upon a rock, and so well fortified that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In the worst of times God has his remnant, and in every age will reserve to himself a holy seed and preserve that to his heavenly kingdom.

      In singing this psalm, and praying it over, we must bewail the general corruption of manners, thank God that things are not worse than they are, but pray and hope that they will be better in God's due time.