The Godly Are No More

1For the one directing. According to Sheminith.† A Psalm of David.

1 Help, O YHWH! For the godly one ceases to be;

for the faithful ones disappear from the sons of man.

2Vanity they speak, each man with his neighbor;

with lips of flattery with a double heart they speak.

3May YHWH cut off all lips of flattery,

a tongue speaking great things—

4those who have said, “By our tongues we will prevail;

our lips are with us; who is lord over us?”

5“From the oppression of the poor,

from the groaning of the needy,

now I shall arise,” says YHWH.

“I will set in safety him who breathes for it.”

6The words of YHWH are pure words,

silver refined in a furnace of earth,

purified sevenfold.†

7You, O YHWH, shall keep them;

You will guard them from this generation forever.

8On every side the wicked walk,

as vileness is exalted by the sons of man.