A cry for God’s help against powerful opponents

 

PSALM 12

A cry for God’s help against powerful opponents




The Father sent his Son into the world to defend the poor (Saint Augustine).




Help, O Lord, for good men have vanished; 

truth has gone from the sons of men.

Falsehood they speak one to another, 

with lying lips, with a false heart.




May the Lord destroy all lying lips, 

the tongue that speaks high-sounding words,

those who say: “Our tongue is our strength;

our lips are our own, who is our master?”




“For the poor who are oppressed and the needy who groan †

I myself will arise,” says the Lord. 

“I will grant them the salvation for which they thirst.”




The words of the Lord are words without alloy, 

silver from the furnace, seven times refined.




It is you, O Lord, who will take us in your care 

and protect us for ever from this generation.

See how the wicked prowl on every side, 

while the worthless are prized highly by the sons of men.




Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 

and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, 

and will be for ever. Amen.