violence · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
poor
עֲנִיִּים֮'a.ni.Yim
H6041
depressed · adjective, masculine plural absolute
sighing
מֵאַנְקַ֪תme.'an.Kat
H603
shrieking · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
needy
אֶבְי֫וֹנִ֥ים'ev.Yo.Nim
H34
destitute · adjective, masculine plural absolute
arise
אָ֭קוּם'A.kum
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
saith
יֹאמַ֣רyo.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
set
אָשִׁ֥ית'a.Shit
H7896
to place (in a very wide application) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
safety
בְּ֝יֵ֗שַׁעbe.Ye.sha'
H3468
liberty · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
puffeth
יָפִ֥יחַֽya.Fi.ach
H6315
to puff · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Proverbs 14:31 He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.
James 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which…
Psalms 146:7-8 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:
Isaiah 33:10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
Micah 7:8-9 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
Exodus 2:23-24 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cr…
Job 5:15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 12:1–end
This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts for bad times, in which, though the prudent will keep silent (Amo 5:13) because a man may then be made an offender for a word, yet we may comfort ourselves with such suitable meditations and prayers as are here got ready to our hand.
I. Let us see here what it is that makes the times bad, and when they may be said to be so. Ask the children of this world what it is in their account that makes the times bad, and they will tell you, Scarcity of money, decay of trade, and the desolations of war, make the times bad. But the scripture lays the badness of the times upon causes of another nature. Ti2 3:1, Perilous times shall come, for iniquity shall aboun…
The writer intimates his confidence by depicting God's actions (compare Psa 9:19; Psa 10:12) as coming to save the poor at whom the wicked sneer (Psa 10:5).
John Gill on Psalms 12:5
For the oppression of the poor,.... The servants and people of God, who, for the most part, are poor in a temporal sense, and are all of them, and always, so in a spiritual sense, standing continually in need of fresh supplies of grace; and being often afflicted, as the word signifies, are mean and despicable in the eyes of the men of this world, and so oppressed by them, as the poor generally are by the rich; and as the people of Israel were oppressed by the Egyptians, so are the people of God by antichrist, and by his tyrannical laws and edicts, and by such haughty and insolent persons as before described;
for the sighing of the needy; who groan under their oppressions; being stripped of…
Psalm 12:5-6
5. Because of the spoiling [262] of the needy, because of the groaning of the poor, I will now arise, Jehovah will say; I will set in safety him whom he snareth. [263] 6. The words of Jehovah are pure words: silver melted in an excellent crucible of earth, purified seven times.
5. Because of the spoiling of the needy. David now sets before himself as matter of consolation, the truth that God will not suffer the wicked thus to make havoc without end and measure. The more effectually to establish himself and others in the belief of this truth, he introduces God himself as speaking. The expression is more emphatic when God is represented as coming forward and declaring with his o…
The Church Fathers
"I will arise" is a metaphor to indicate that the one who is not familiar with the human need to lie down out of weakness does in fact rise up. But he says I will arise, I will appear and be manifest in the Son. For the strength and majesty of the Father and of the Son are one and undivided. For the Father appears and is manifest in the Son, as Christ himself says in the Gospel: "He who sees me sees the Father also."
"Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the sighing of the poor, now I will arise, saith the Lord" [Psalm 12:5]. For so the Lord Himself in the Gospel pitied His people, because they had no ruler, when they could well obey. Whence too it is said in the Gospel, "The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few." [Matthew 9:37] But this must be taken as spoken in the person of God the Father, who, because of the needy and the poor, that is, who in need and poverty were lacking spiritual good things, vouchsafed to send His own Son. From thence begins His sermon on the mount to Matthew, where He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [Matthew 5:3] "I will place in salvation." He does not say what He would place: but, "in salvation," must be understood as, in Christ; according to that, "For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." [Luke 2:30] And hence He is understood to have placed in Him what appertains to the taking away the wretchedness of the needy, and the comforting the sighing of the poor. "I will deal confidently in Him:" according to that in the Gospel, "For He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." [Matthew 7:29]
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Sheminith — Eight; octave, a musical term, supposed to denote the lowest note sung by men’s voices (1 Chr. 15:21; Ps. 6; 12, title).
Injustice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Oppression · God’s help promised against — God’s help promised against
Poor, The · God: Protects — God: Protects
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
(Heb.: 12:6-7) In Psa 12:6 the psalmist hears Jahve Himself speak; and in Psa 12:7 he adds his Amen. The two מן in Psa 12:6 denote the motive, עתּה the decisive turning-point from forebearance to the execution of judgment, and ימר the divine determination, which has just now made itself audible; cf. Isaiah's echo of it, Isa 33:10. Jahve has hitherto looked on with seeming inactivity and indifference, now He will arise and place in ישׁע, i.e., a condition of safety (cf. שׂים בּחיּים Psa 66:9), him who languishes for deliverance. It is not to be explained: him whom he, i.e., the boaster, blows upon, which would be expressed by יפיח בּו, cf. Psa 10:5; but, with Ewald, Hengstenberg, Olshausen, a…
The words they say reveal the character of the wicked. They deceive and overpower the godly and arrogantly question the Lord’s purposes.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 12:5
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
In due season the Lord will hear his elect ones, who cry day and night unto him, and though he bear long with their oppressors, yet will he avenge them speedily. Observe that the mere oppression of saints, however silently they bear it, is in itself a cry to God: Moses was heard at the Red Sea, though he said nothing; and Hagar's affliction was heard despite her silence. Jesus feels with his people, and their smarts are mighty orators with him. By-and-by, however, they begin to sigh and express their misery, and then relief comes post-haste.…
