Psalms 12

Psalms 12:1-8

¹ Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

² They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a doublea heart do they speak.

³ The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proudb things:

Psalms 1:41

Gordon Churchyard

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Good Words and Bad Words

Gordon Churchyard

Jesus said "What I tell you is true". (John 8:45)

Psalms 12

(This is) a song of David.
(Tell the) music leader to use male singers.

v1 LORD, give help!
There are no more kind people.
Nobody is *faithful anywhere.

v2 Everybody tells lies to his neighbour.
Their words sound good, but they are not.

v3 LORD, cut off every tongue that tells lies.
Shut every mouth that boasts.

v4 Do this to everyone that says:
• what we say will make us powerful
• we will say what we like
• who will stop us?

v5 The LORD says, "Now I will do something.
This is because bad people attack the poor.
They make the poor cry.
So, I will make the poor safe.
They will be safe from all that scorn them"

v6 The words of the LORD are beautiful words.
They are like *silver.
People *refine *silver 7 times in a very hot fire.

v7 LORD, you will keep the poor safe.
You will never let bad people hurt them.

v8 The godless are winners
when people say that "Wrong is right".

The Story of Psalms 12

People said bad things about David. David thought that everyone was saying bad things. We do not know when that was. Perhaps it was:

• when David lived with Saul. After David killed Goliath, he went to live with Saul. When Saul was sad, David made music. This made Saul happy again. But some people did not like it. They were not happy that Saul liked David. They said bad things about David.

• when David ran away from Saul. He went to live in the woods and fields and mountains. Again, people said bad things about David.

David prayed to God. He told God what people were saying. David heard the answer from the LORD. We do not know how he heard it. But David did write it down. This made David a prophet. This was because David told people what God said. That is what a prophet does.

Verse 1: "kind people" here means people who:

• love God, and

• do good things

Verse 2: David says, "People do not mean what they say". They tell King Saul one thing, but mean something else.

Verse 4: "who will stop us" is "who is lord over us" in Hebrew. A lord is a very powerful person. The bad people think that nobody is more powerful than them. But they are wrong. God is more powerful.

Verse 5: "safe" here and "help" in Psalms 12:1 are the same word in Hebrew. It is the Hebrew word that we get our word Jesus from.

Verse 6: Men find silver in the ground. It is dirty. People make it clean with fire. It is then very beautiful and of great value. David is saying that God's words are also like this.

What is a prophet?

A prophet does two things:

• he tells people what God is saying about something

• he tells people what God is going to do in the future

There are many prophets in the Bible. The Bible has two parts. The first part is the Old Testament. It tells us what happened before Jesus came to earth. The second part is the New Testament. It tells us what happened after Jesus came to earth. There are prophets in both parts.

In the Old Testament there are 16 books by prophets. Some are long, like Isaiah. Others are short, like Haggai. Some of the other books also tell us what prophets said. A good example is Psalms. The New Testament tells us that David was a great prophet. Moses was also a prophet.

In Psalms 12:5 David speaks as a prophet. He tells people what God will do. David does not say when God will do it. This happens with all the prophets. We are not sure when their prophecies will happen! (A prophecy is what prophets say.)

There are prophets in the New Testament. John the Baptist was a prophet. He told people about Jesus. Agabus was a prophet. He said what would happen to Paul. The Holy Spirit made many Christians prophets. The Holy Spirit is another name for God.

There are prophets in the Church today. They tell us what God is saying about our world. These prophets are God's gift to the Church.

Something to do

• talk about this with your friends: bad people win when good people do nothing. Is it true?

• look for prophets in your own Church. Ask God about what they are saying. Is it true?

faithful ~ someone that keeps their promises to people
silver ~ a metal that is of great value
refine ~ make very clean

Psalms 107:150

Gordon Churchyard

Psalms For Climbing;

Psalms 120:134

Jesus said, "We will go up to Jerusalem" (Luke 18:31).

The Story of Psalms 120:134

These 15 psalms are called "Songs of Ascent" in many Bibles. "Ascent" means "going up". This translation calls it "climbing". But what are we climbing? Bible students give us 4 answers:

• One line in the psalm "climbs" on the line in front of it. This means that it repeats the line. Read the start of Psalms 124 for an example.

• There were 15 steps from where the women stood to where the men stood outside the *temple. The *temple was God's house in Jerusalem. As the men climbed the steps, they sang one psalm on each step. This is why most of the psalms for climbing are short.

• Jerusalem was on the top of a hill called "Zion". The *Jews often went to Jerusalem to worship God at the *temple. "Worship" means "Tell God how *wonderful that he is. And tell him that you love him". The *Jews sang these psalms for climbing as they went up to Jerusalem.

• Hezekiah was a king of the *Jews. He was so ill that he thought he would soon die. He prayed for a longer life. God made the clock "climb" back 10 degrees. This was about an hour. It was a sign that Hezekiah would live another 15 years. Hezekiah made a book of 15 psalms, 10 of them new, the other 5 by David and Solomon. The story is in Isaiah chapter 38.

We do not know which of these is the true answer. It may be something else! Perhaps answers 3 and 4 are the true answers.

Who wrote the psalms for climbing? Some are by David, and one or two are by Solomon. Solomon was David’s son. The other psalms for climbing may be by Hezekiah or one of his friends like Isaiah; or by Ezra or Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah were leaders of the *Jews 500 years after Solomon built the *temple, or 250 years after Hezekiah was king. This was when the *Jews made the Book of Psalms. The psalms for climbing were part of this Book of Psalms.

Psalms 125

(This is) a psalm for climbing.

v1 People that *trust in the *LORD are like the mountain called Zion.
Nothing will move it; it will always be there.

v2 Jerusalem has mountains all round it.
Also, the *LORD is all round his people, now and always.

v3 *Wicked (people) will not always rule over the land.
(That is, the land) that (the *LORD) gave to *righteous people.
If they did, the *righteous people might start doing bad things themselves.

v4 Do good things, *LORD, to good people.
(Good people) are *upright in their *hearts.

v5 But *LORD, take away those people that start doing bad things themselves.
Take them away with the *wicked (people).
Let Israel be *at peace!

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
temple ~ a place where people meet to worship God.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; a person who has the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; in the Psalms, belief in God.
wonderful ~ great and surprising.
trust ~ believe that someone (usually God in the psalms) will be kind to you.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; It is the word "Adonai" in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
lord ~ someone with authority.
LORD ~ the covenant name for God (in a covenant you agree with someone).
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
covenant ~ two people have agreed what each should do (here, God and his people). Look in Psalm 120 about the covenant.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
wicked ~ very, very bad.
righteous ~ very good (only God is really righteous). God says that the people who love and obey him are righteous. Sometimes we say they are "the righteous", meaning "righteous people". Look after Psalm 5 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the word "righteous".
heart ~ (in Hebrew poems), "heart" means "mind", the part of us that thinks.
heart ~ part of the body. Jews believed that you thought in your heart.
poem ~ using words in a special (often very beautiful) way.
Jew ~ a person who is born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children; a person who has the faith of the Jews, called Judaism.
faith ~ belief in someone or something; in the Psalms, belief in God.
wicked ~ very, very bad.

Psalms 107:150

Gordon Churchyard

Psalms 126

Psalms For Climbing;

Psalms 120:134

Jesus said, "We will go up to Jerusalem" (Luke 18:31).

The Story of Psalms 120:134

These 15 psalms are called "Songs of Ascent" in many Bibles. "Ascent" means "going up". This translation calls it "climbing". But what are we climbing? Bible students give us 4 answers:

• One line in the psalm "climbs" on the line in front of it. This means that it repeats the line. Read the start of Psalms 124 for an example.

We do not know which of these is the true answer. It may be something else! Perhaps answers 3 and 4 are the true answers.

Psalms 126

(This is) a psalm for climbing.

v1 An army was attacking Zion.
When the *LORD turned them away,
we were like people that were dreaming!

v2 Then we laughed a lot.
And we shouted because we were so happy!
And (people in) other countries said (to each other),
"The *LORD has done something *wonderful for them!"

v3 The *LORD has done something *wonderful for us
and we are very, very happy.

v4 The *LORD will give back again what we have lost.
It will be like water coming into a dry place where there is a lot of sand.

v5 People that are crying will go out and plant seeds.
(Later) they will sing as they pick the fruits.

v6 Someone will go out crying, but with a basket of seeds.
He will come home laughing, with a lot of food.