Psalms 12:4. With our tongues will we prevail By raising and spreading evil reports concerning him. We will have the better of all that oppose us; and our tongues are the instruments whereby we will get the victory. Our lips are our own At our own disposal to speak what we please. Who is lord over us? Who can, or has any right to control us; or to call us to an account? read more
Psalms 11-13 Persevere . . . or give in?There came a time when David became tired of his continual flight from Saul, not just because it was wearying, but because it was cutting him off from the public worship places of God’s people (1 Samuel 26:19). His spiritual life was weakened and he gave in to the temptation to leave his own country for the safety of enemy Philistia (1 Samuel 27:1). This is the sort of temptation that David considers in Psalms 11:0, the temptation to go along with... read more
With our tongue will we prevail = Thanks to our tongue, we will prevail. read more
1. Plea for deliverance 12:1-4The multitude of liars and deceivers that surrounded David moved him to cry out to God for deliverance for the godly minority. read more
Psalms 12David placed great confidence in the promises of God to deliver those who look to Him for salvation. This was not easy for the psalmist to do, since in his day powerful wicked people were taking advantage of the weak and vulnerable (cf. Psalms 11:3). The genre of this psalm is probably a community lament with a statement of confidence in God. read more
David wished the Lord would end the flattery and arrogant claims of those around him. They confidently believed they could accomplish anything they chose to do by their lies and deception. They also repudiated any restraint of their free speech (cf. James 3:5). read more
The same subject may be traced here as in Psalms 9-11, viz. a time of persecution and oppression coupled with a conviction that God lives and will yet deliver.Title as in Psalms 6.2. Vanity] empty and false words. A double heart] a figure for treachery and deceit.4. Our lips are our own] We have a right to say what we please, to gain our end.5. Now will I arise] God’s time for interposition always arrives sooner or later. The Psalmist pictures the proper moment as having come. From him that... read more
(4) With our tongue.—This is the proud saying just mentioned, and is plainly a boast of the power possessed by those who have the ear of persons in authority, and can adroitly “make the worse appear the better cause”; or being themselves in high places, can, like Angelo in Measure for Measure, defy the accusations of their victims:—“Who will believe thee, Isabel?My place in the StateWill so your accusation overweighThat you shall stifle in your own report,And smell of calumny.”But there is... read more
Psalms 12:5 This verse was the text of a sermon preached by Dr. Fabricius before Gustavus Adolphus, when he took Augsburg after a severe fight, in which the honour of the day was given by the king to the Scottish Brigade under Colonel Hepburn. A solemn thanksgiving was held in the principal church, and religious liberty was proclaimed in the city of the famous Confession, while the ferocious Tilly, after his defeat, returned breathing out threatenings and slaughter. John Ker. read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Psalms 12:4
Who have said - Who habitually say. This does not mean that they had formally and openly said this - for none would be likely to do so - but that they had practically and really said this by their conduct. They acted as if it were the real principle on which they framed their lives, that they might use their tongues as they pleased.With our tongue - literally, “as to,” or “in respect to our tongue;” that is, by our tongue. It was by the tongue that they expected to accomplish their purposes. It... read more