Psalms 12:7

You, Lord, will protect them; ¹  you will continually shelter each one from these evil people, ² 

O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people for ever.

You, O LORD, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever.

Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation,

GOD, keep us safe from their lies, From the wicked who stalk us with lies,

You will keep them, O Lord, you will keep them safe from this generation for ever.

You, O LORD, will protect us; you will guard us from this generation forever.

You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

You, Lord, will protect them; ¹  you will continually shelter each one from these evil people, ² 

¹ tn The third person plural pronominal suffix on the verb is masculine, referring back to the “oppressed” and “needy” in v. 5 (both of those nouns are plural in form), suggesting that the verb means “protect” here. The suffix does not refer to אִמֲרוֹת (’imarot, “words”) in v. 6, because that term is feminine gender.

² tn Heb “you will protect him from this generation permanently.” The third masculine singular suffix on the verb “protect” is probably used in a distributive sense, referring to each one within the group mentioned previously (the oppressed/needy, referred to as “them” in the preceding line). On this grammatical point see GKC 396 §123.f (where the present text is not cited). (Some Hebrew mss and ancient textual witnesses read “us,” both here and in the preceding line.) The noun דוֹר (dor, “generation”) refers here to the psalmist’s contemporaries, who were characterized by deceit and arrogance (see vv. 1-2). See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.