“Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.”
This lament psalm opens with a cry for help, asserting that the faithful have ceased and loyalties have vanished among humanity. The language of faithful ceasing and vanishing suggests a comprehensive moral collapse where trustworthy people become rare. The opening appeals to God against the background of human faithlessness, establishing that the psalmist's hope rests entirely on God rather than on human community. This opening establishes the lament's occasion: the speaker perceives himself as isolated among those who lack integrity.
Church Fathers on Psalms 12:1
To the end, for the eighth, a psalm of David. 1. It has been said on the sixth Psalm, that “the eighth” may be taken as the day of judgment. “For the eighth” may also be taken “for the eternal age;” for that after the time present, which is a cycle of seven days, it shall be given to the Saints. 2. “Save me, O Lord, for the holy has failed;” that is, is not found: as we speak when we say, Grain fails, or, Money fails. “For the truths have been minished from among the sons…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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