[1] Save and help and rescue, LORD, for godly people cease to be, For the faithful vanish from among the sons of men. [2] They speak deceitful and worthless words to one another; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. [3] May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things [in boasting]; [4] Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord and master over us?” [5] “Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” [6] The words and promises of the LORD are pure words, Like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times. [7] You, O LORD, will preserve and keep them; You will protect him from this [evil] generation forever. [8] The wicked strut about [in pompous self-importance] on every side, As vileness is exalted and baseness is prized among the sons of men.
