For the music director; according to the sheminith style; 2 a psalm of David.
12:1 Deliver, Lord!
For the godly 3 have disappeared; 4
people of integrity 5 have vanished. 6
31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers 7 of his!
The Lord protects those who have integrity,
but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. 8
84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. 9
The Lord bestows favor 10 and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. 11
101:6 I will favor the honest people of the land, 12
and allow them to live with me. 13
Those who walk in the way of integrity will attend me. 14
1 sn Psalm 12. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene, for society is overrun by deceitful, arrogant oppressors and godly individuals are a dying breed. When the Lord announces his intention to defend the oppressed, the psalmist affirms his confidence in the divine promise.
2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.
3 tn The singular form is collective or representative. Note the plural form “faithful [ones]” in the following line. A “godly [one]” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
4 tn Or “have come to an end.”
5 tn Heb “the faithful [ones] from the sons of man.”
6 tn The Hebrew verb פָּסַס (pasas) occurs only here. An Akkadian cognate means “efface, blot out.”
7 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
8 tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.
9 tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.
10 tn Or “grace.”
11 tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”
12 tn Heb “my eyes [are] on the faithful of the land.”
13 tn The Hebrew text simply reads, “in order to live with me.”
14 tn Heb “one who walks in the way of integrity, he will minister to me.”