Psalms 12:7

More exactly:

Thou, O Jehovah, wilt preserve them (as Psalms 16:1);

Thou wilt guard him &c.

The first Thou is emphatic: them refers to the poor and needy of Psalms 12:5: him in the second line singles out each oneof the victims of persecution as the object of divine care. Comp. the similar change from plur. (poor and needy) to sing. in Psalms 12:5. But possibly we should follow the LXX and read us, instead of themand him, or at any rate in place of him.

this generation As the men of one age are commonly distinguished by special characteristics, generationacquires an ethical significance, and denotes kind, class, in good or bad sense. Comp. Psalms 14:5; Proverbs 30:11-14; Matthew 17:17.