Psalms 12:7 (KJV)
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Psalm 12 has a lot to say about words. David writes about men who “speak vanity.” He mentions flattering lips, a double heart, and a tongue that speaks proud things. They are so confident in what they say that they boast, “With our tongue will we prevail.”
Then David gives us the contrast.
Psalm 12:6 (KJV)
The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Men speak vanity, but God speaks pure Words. Men flatter, but God tells the truth. Men speak with a double heart, but there is nothing double about the Word of God. Men boast that their tongues will prevail, but the Words of God endure.
Then David says, “Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
John Gill did not believe “them” referred to the Words of God. He believed David was speaking of the poor and needy mentioned in verse 5. But Gill tells us something else that caught my attention. Aben Ezra believed “them” referred to the words of verse 6, and Aben Ezra lived around the year 1100.
That means the debate over Psalm 12:7 is older than the King James Bible by hundreds of years. Reading this verse as a promise of the preservation of God’s Words is not some interpretation invented by modern King James Bible defenders. Men were discussing this interpretation centuries before the King James Bible existed.
I understand the grammatical argument Gill makes, and I understand why he followed Kimchi and interpreted the verse as referring to the poor and needy. But I believe the context points us to the Words of God.
Look at the Psalm. Men speak vanity, flatter with their lips, speak with a double heart, boast with their tongues, and trust in their own words. Then, right in the middle of all that corrupt speech, David says, “The words of the LORD are pure words.”
That is the contrast. The wicked have their words, and God has His Words. Their words are vain, flattering, proud, and corrupt, while His Words are pure. Immediately after telling us that His Words are pure, David says, “Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.”
I believe that means exactly what it says. God did not give His Words to one generation and leave the generations that followed to reconstruct what He might have said. He gave His Words, He kept His Words, He preserved His Words, and we have His Words today.
The words of men come and go with their generation, but the Words of God are preserved from generation to generation.
#Psalm12v7 #WordOfGod #KJV #BiblePreservation #DailyVisitWithGod
Pure Words Preserved: An Ancient Bible Debate Older Than the KJV
What do you believe Psalm 12:7 is promising to preserve—the poor and needy, the Words of God, or both? Leave a comment and tell me how you understand the passage.
For more Bible studies, devotionals, and KJV-centered teaching, visit marvinmckenzie.org.
For this and, more than 7200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/
Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more
Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give.
