Practice this week’s singing here (New Britain/Amazing Grace).

From the ESV Study Bible via the Gospel Coalition

Laments [are Psalms] whose primary function is to lay a troubled situation before the Lord, asking him for help. There are community laments, dealing with trouble faced by the people of God as a whole (e.g., Psalm 12), and individual laments, where the troubles face a particular member of the people (e.g., Psalm 13). This category is the largest by far, including as much as a third of the whole Psalter.

From the ESV Study Bible

[Psalm 12] is a community lament, suited to occasions when the people of God are dominated by liars in positions of authority. It is not clear whether these liars are unfaithful Israelites or Gentile oppressors; the psalm works for either situation.

From the ESV Literary Study Bible

The characteristics of the lament psalm are as follows: (1) There are five main ingredients, which may appear in any order and may appear more than once in a psalm: invocation or cry to God; the lament, or definition of the crisis; petition; statement of confidence in God; vow to praise God. (2) Laments are *occasional poems arising out of a specific event or situation in the poet’s or nation’s life. (3) The poet in a lament psalm typically does these things: he undertakes a quest to master a crisis and find peace in the midst of it; he paints a heightened and often figurative picture of the crisis; he protests about the situation to God and perhaps to himself and his readers; he attempts to persuade God to act; he finds a satisfactory solution to the problem.

On every side the wicked prowl: plea for protection from a godless society. The theme of this lament psalm is announced in verse 7: God will guard believers as they live in a godless society. The variations on that theme are as follows: portrait of a godless society (vv. 1–2); a wish for God to act in judgment against such a society (vv. 3–4); God’s reliable promise to act on behalf of the oppressed (vv. 5–6); assertion of the unifying theme that God will guard his own as they live in a wicked society (vv. 7–8).

Matt Chandler on Lament

From the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible

David petitions the Lord to make things right (Ps. 12:3–4). The Savior must be a righteous man (cf. v. 5 and 1 Pet. 3:18), whose words are truth (cf. Ps. 12:6 and John 5:24), a sovereign judge (cf. Ps. 12:3 and 5 with John 8:26), and an eternal protector (cf. Ps. 12:7 and John 10:28). Ultimately, this can only be Jesus. Proof that the Savior is this promised Messiah is how he responds when he sees ruthless leaders plundering the poor (Luke 16:14–17, 19–31).

Though for a time the wicked are exalted in this fallen world, God’s covenantal protection of his people will last from generation to generation. When the believer feels overwhelmed by systemic evil and is disheartened as an apparent minority standing for truth, this psalm will lead him to the only one who can save. In the meantime, Christ’s promise of justice provides hope: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done” (Rev. 22:12).

On Curses in the Psalms (Imprecatory Psalms), From the ESV Study Bible via the Gospel Coalition

Many psalms call on God for help as the faithful are threatened with harm from enemies (often called “the wicked”—frequently the unfaithful who persecute the godly, and sometimes Gentile oppressors). In a number of places, the requested help is that God would punish these enemies. Christians, with the teaching and example of Jesus (in passages like Matt. 5:38–48; Luke 23:34; 1 Pet. 2:19–23; cf. Acts 7:6), may wonder what to make of such curses: How can it possibly be right for God’s people to pray in this way? Many have supposed that this is an area in which the ethics of the NT improve upon and supersede the OT. Others suggest that these only apply to the church’s warfare with its ultimate enemy, Satan, and his demons. Neither of these is fully satisfying, both because the NT authors portray themselves as heirs of OT ethics (cf. Matt. 22:34–40) and because the NT has some curses of its own (e.g., 1 Cor. 16:22; Gal. 1:8–9; Rev. 6:9–10), even finding instruction in some of the Psalms’ curses (e.g., Acts 1:20 and Rom. 11:9–10, using Psalms 69 and 109). Each of the psalm passages must be taken on its own, and the notes address these questions (e.g., see ESV Study Bible notes on Ps. 5:10; 35:4–8; 58:6–9; 59:11–17; 69:22–28; 109:6–20; and the note on Psalm 137, which contains the most striking curse of all). At the same time, some general principles will help in understanding these passages.

First, one must be clear that the people being cursed are not enemies over trivial matters; they are people who hate the faithful precisely for their faith; they mock God and use ruthless and deceitful means to suppress the godly (cf. Ps. 5:4–6, 9–10; 10:15; 42:3; 94:2–7).

Second, it is worth remembering that these curses are in poetic form and can employ extravagant and vigorous expressions. (The exact fulfillment is left to God.)

Third, these curses are expressions of moral indignation, not of personal vengeance. For someone who knows God, it is unbearably wrong that those who persecute the faithful and turn people away from God should get away with it, and even seem to prosper. Zion is the city of God, the focus of his affection (cf. Psalms 48; 122); it is unthinkable that God could tolerate cruel men taking delight in destroying it. These psalms are prayers for God to vindicate himself, displaying his righteousness for all the world to see (cf. Ps. 10:17–18). Further, these are prayers that God will do what he said he will do: Psalm 35:5 looks back to Psalm 1:4, and even Psalm 137:9 has Isaiah 13:16 as its backdrop. Most of these prayers assume that the persecutors will not repent; however, in one place (Ps. 83:17), the prayer actually looks to the punishment as leading to their conversion.

Fourth, the OT ethical system forbids personal revenge (e.g., Lev. 19:17–18; Prov. 24:17; 25:21–22), a prohibition that the NT inherits (cf. Rom. 12:19–21).

Thus, when the NT writers employ these curses or formulate their own (as above), they are following the OT guidelines. Any prayer for the Lord to hasten his coming must mean disaster for the impenitent (2 Thess. 1:5–10). Yet Christians must keep as their deepest desire, even for those who mean harm to the church, that others would come to trust in Christ and love his people (cf. Luke 23:34; Rom. 9:1–3; 10:1; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). Hence, when they pray for God to protect his people against their persecutors, they should be explicit about asking God to lead such people to repentance. With these things in mind, then, it is still possible that the faithful today might sing or read aloud even these sections of the Psalms, if it takes place in a service of worship, under wise leadership, for the good of the whole people of God.

More on Curses in the Psalms

Songs to Listen To