Psalm 16

Protect me, my god, for in you I trust.
To Jehovah I say, "You are my god;
All the good that comes to me comes from you."

It is the men of holiness
Who are the world's nobility;
It is in them I find my joy.

Those who lapse and chase after other gods
Find their sorrows and woes are multiplied.
I make no offerings of blood to them,
Nor will I utter the names of their idols.

My god is my only food and drink;
My destiny is in his hands.
My boundary lines are happily drawn,
My land, a beautiful legacy.

I praise Jehovah, for he is my guide;
Even in the night he is my conscience.
Always I have Jehovah before me;
And with him beside me, I will stand firm.

My heart is glad and my soul rejoices
Even my body dwells in security,
Knowing you will leave not my soul in death's realm
Or let a righteous man rot in the grave.

You show me the path to a holy life.
Your presence fills me with exalted joy;
With you I will know happiness forever!

Psalm 12

Save us, Jehovah, for godly men are gone,
And the faithful have vanished from the earth.
Men now speak only lies to their neighbors.
Sweet talk and false flattery is on their lips
And they deceive with a duplicitous heart.

May you, Jehovah, still those flattering lips
And silence those boastful tongues that proclaim,
"We, by the words of our tongue, will prevail.
Our lips belong to no one but ourselves.
No master can to tell us what we can say!”

"I will now take action!" cries Jehovah,
"For the downtrodden are sorely oppressed,
And the needy groan in hunger and pain.
I will give them the succor they pray for."

True is the promise of Jehovah,
As true and pure as silver refined
In the fire of an earthen kiln
And purified seven times over.

The human race exalts what is vile,
And the wicked are on every side.
From such a generation of men
You, Jehovah, will protect us
And keep us -- for now and always.