“They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.”
The description of people speaking falsehood with flattering lips and a double heart establishes corrupted speech as the primary problem plaguing humanity. The flattering lips suggest manipulative language designed to deceive, while the double heart suggests inner duplicity beneath outward appearance. The emphasis on speech suggests that linguistic corruption manifests spiritual degeneration. This verse particularizes the general moral collapse of verse 1, establishing that dishonesty becomes the norm.
Church Fathers on Psalms 12:2
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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