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COMMENTARY ON PSALM 12 To the end, on the eighth. A psalm of David. his psalm retains the same sense: he upbraids those employing deceit and, while promising friendship , betraying him to his enemy Saul and disclosing to him where he was living. It bears the title “on the eighth” for the reason that it mentions God’s righteous judgment, which the righteous Judge will carry out after the seventh day, as we said before.1 The reason it is also entitled “To the end” is that there will be a prophecy at a later stage. (2) Save me, Lord, because there is no holy person left, because truth is esteemed little among sons of men (v. 1). My request is to enjoy salvation from you, O Lord, since regard for truth is in danger of being snuffed out, with everyone, you might say, suffering from distrust in one another. Then he describes more clearly what they are up to: Everyone spoke lies to their neighbor (v. 2): they pretend friendship and perform the actions of enemies. Lying lips in their heart and evil spoken in the heart: they talk to each other deceitfully , he is saying. Some use their lips to direct falsehood into their neighbor’s heart, others return the compliment. (3) Then on this account he threatens them with punishment : The Lord will destroy all deceitful lips, every boasting tongue (v. 3). Now, what form does the boasting take? [944] Those who say, “We shall give free rein to our tongue. Our lips are our own. Who is our master?” (v. 4). They cannot bear, he is saying, to keep their words in conformity with their nature, nor are they prepared to have regard for the divine laws; instead, with mouths agape they heedlessly utter whatever occurs to them, scornful of divine long-suffering and giving no thought to their falling under the lordship of God. Pharaoh was like that, and so he said, “I do not know the Lord.”2 Rabshakeh was like that, presuming to say, “Do 102 1. Cf. note 1 on Ps 6. 2. Exod 5.2. not let your God deceive you, trusting in him for the deliverance of Jerusalem from my hand.”3 Nabuchodonosor was like that, striking fear into those noble children and not afraid to say, “Who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?”4 Still, even they paid the penalty for their audacity, and those of whom the inspired word speaks will pay the due penalty.5 (4) He indicated as much in adding, For the sake of the hardship of the poor and the groaning of the needy I shall now arise, says the Lord; I shall place them in safety, I shall deal faithfully with them (v. 5). I shall not ignore them in their weeping and groaning that result from the crimes committed against them; instead, shaking off my long-suffering like a sleep I shall make their salvation obvious and illustrious. Symmachus in fact rendered it thus: “I shall arrange salvation in a visible position.” Teaching us that what has been said will really be true, the psalmist added, The Lord’s sayings are pure sayings, silver tested in the furnace, proven in the ground, purified seven times (v. 6). He put seven times instead of “many times,” this being customary with the divine Scripture.6 You, O Lord, will protect us, and defend us from this generation and forever (v. 7): guarded by your grace we shall not only escape the wiles of the present generation, but shall also be provided with everlasting salvation. (5) The godless roam around; you prospered sons of men in your loftiness (v. 8). Those addicted to impiety, then, forsaking the divine path, wander this way and that, endeavoring to outflank and as it were besiege more reasonable people. You, on the contrary , when you make your appearance from the loftiness of your nature, judge those assailed by such people to be worthy of your care, at one time consoling them in tribulation, and a little later regaling them with complete salvation. [945] COMMENTARY ON PSALM 12 103 3. Cf. 2 Kings 18.29–30, loosely recalled. 4. Dan 3.15. 5. The biblical parallels are brief and to the point, and if obscure in at least one case, the reader is expected to recall the context (even if the commentator seems unsure of the text in another case). 6. Chrysostom, also an Antiochene...

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