God, a Helper against the Treacherous.

For the choir director; upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.

1 Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases to be,
          For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

2 They speak falsehood to one another;
          With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak.

3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
          The tongue that speaks great things;

4 Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;
          Our lips are our own; who is lord 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 set him in the safety for which he longs.”

6 The words of the LORD are pure words;
          As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

7 You, O LORD, will keep them;
          You will preserve him from this generation forever.

8 The wicked strut about on every side
          When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.