Bible Strands
Psalms 12:2
They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses the Lord regarding the disappearance of the faithful and the rise of deceitful people among men. The words — The Hebrew שָׁוְא (shav', falsehood) and חֲלָק֑וֹת (chalakot, flatteries) describe how each person speaks deceit to their neighbor. The thread — This pattern of deceptive speech recurs in Jeremiah 9:8, Psalm 41:6, and Romans 16:18. Why it lands — The text states that divided loyalty produces false communication, which demands readers identify and reject speech that masks internal contradiction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
Cross-references
- Romans 16:18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- Jeremiah 9:8 Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him.
- Psalms 41:6 My visitor speaks falsehood; he gathers slander in his heart; he goes out and spreads it abroad.
- Psalms 5:9 For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Psalms 10:7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.
- Psalms 144:8 whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.
- Psalms 28:3 Do not drag me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors while malice is in their hearts.
- James 1:8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- Psalms 52:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:5 As you know, we never used words of flattery or any pretext for greed. God is our witness!