1 Help, O LORD, for the godly man has ceased; the faithful have disappeared from among the children of men.
2 They speak emptiness, each to his neighbor; with smooth lips, with a double heart, they speak.
3 May the LORD cut off every smooth lip, the tongue that utters boasts,
4 those who have said, "By our tongue we will be strong; our lips are with us; who is master over us?"
5 "Because of the plunder of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will rise," says the LORD; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."
6 The sayings of the LORD are pure sayings, silver smelted in a furnace of earth, refined seven times.
7 You, O LORD, will guard them; you will preserve him from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked walk about, when worthlessness is lifted high among the children of men.