Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 12:2
They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: [with] flattering lips [and] with a double heart do they speak.
2. Hypocrisy and duplicity are universal. Men’s words are vanity, or falsehood, hollow and unreal. Their flatteries come from ‘a double heart,’ lit. a heart and a heart, which thinks one thing and utters another, and has no constancy or consistency, but thinks one thing today and another thing tomorrow. Cp. Pro 26:24 ff. For the opposite see 1Ch 12:33; 1Ch 12:38.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They speak vanity – This is a statement of the manner in which the godly and the faithful fail, as stated in Psa 12:1. One of the ways was that there was a disregard of truth; that no confidence could be placed on the statements of those who professed to be pious; that they dealt falsely with their neighbors. The word vanity here is equivalent to falsehood. What they spoke was a vain and empty thing, instead of being the truth. It had no reality, and could not be depended on.
Every one with his neighbour – In his statements and promises. No reliance could be placed on his word.
With flattering lips – Hebrew, Lips of smoothness. The verb from which the word used here is derived – chalaq – means properly to divide, to distribute; then, to make things equal or smooth; then, to make smooth or to shape, as an artisan does, as with a plane; and then, to make things smooth with the tongue, that is, to flatter. See Psa 5:9; Pro 5:3; Pro 26:28; Pro 28:23; Pro 29:5. The meaning is, that no confidence could be placed in the statements made. There was no certainty that they were founded on truth; none that they were not intended to deceive. Flattery is the ascribing of qualities to another which he is known not to possess – usually with some sinister or base design.
And with a double heart – Margin, as in Hebrew, a heart and a heart; that is, as it were, with two hearts, one that gives utterance to the words, and the other that retains a different sentiment. Thus, in Deu 25:13, the phrase in Hebrew, a stone and a stone means, as it is translated, divers weights – one stone or weight to buy with, and another to sell with. So the flatterer. He has one heart to give utterance to the words which he uses toward his neighbor, and another that conceals his real purpose or design. No confidence, therefore, could be placed in such persons. Compare the note at Job 32:22.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour] They are false and hollow; they say one thing while they mean another; there is no trusting to what they say.
Flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak] beleb valeb, “With a heart and a heart.” They seem to have two hearts; one to speak fair words, and the other to invent mischief. The old MS. both translates and paraphrases curiously.
Trans. Dayn spak ilkan til his neghbur: swykil lippis in hert, and thurgh hert thai spak.
Par. – Sothfastnes es lessed, and falsed waxes: and al sa vayn spak ilkone to bygyle his neghbur: and many spendes thair tyme in vayne speche withoutyn profyte and gastely frute. And that er swyku lippis; that er jangelers berkand ogaynes sothfastnes. And swykel, for thai speke in hert and thurgh hert; that es in dubil hert, qwen a fals man thynkes ane, and sais another, to desaif hym that he spekes with.
This homely comment cannot be mended.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Vanity; or, falsehood, which is a vain thing, and wants the solidity of truth.
With a double heart; pretending one heart, and that they speak from a kind and upright heart, when they really have another, even a cruel and deceitful heart.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. The want of it is illustratedby the prevalence of deceit and instability.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They speak vanity everyone with his neighbour,…. That which is false and a lie, either doctrinal or practical; what was not according to the word of God, and was vain and empty, frothy, filthy, and corrupt; and which no godly and faithful man would do. And this being done in common, by the generality of men, one with another, shows the degeneracy of the age, and supports the complaint before made. They speak even
[with] flattering lips; as Cain did to Abel, Joab to Amasa, the Herodians to Christ, Judas to his Master, false teachers to those that are simple, hypocrites to God himself, when they draw nigh to him only with their lips, and all formal professors to the churches of Christ, when they profess themselves to be what they are not. And this is a further proof of the justness of the above complaint;
[and] with a double heart do they speak: or “with an heart and an heart” d; such are double minded men, who say one thing, and mean another; their words are not to be depended upon; there is no faithfulness in them. The Chinese e reckon a man of “two hearts”, as they call him, a very wicked man, and none more remote from honesty.
d “in corde & corde”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus. e Martin. Sinic. Hist. p. 144. a heart having , a double meaning, as Pittacus says, Laert. in Vit. Pittac. l. 1. p. 53.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Every man speaketh deceit. David in this verse sets forth that part of unrighteousness which is contrary to truth. He says that there is no sincerity or uprightness in their speech, because the great object upon which they are bent is to deceive. He next describes the manner in which they deceive, namely, that every man endeavors to ensnare his neighbor by flattery (257) He also points out the fountain and first cause of this, They speak with a double heart. This doubleness of heart, as I may term it, makes men double and variable in their speech, in order thereby to disguise themselves in different ways, (258) or to make themselves appear to others different from what they really are. Hence the Hebrew word חלקות, chalakoth, which denotes flattery, is derived from a word which signifies division. As those who are resolved to act truthfully in their intercourse with their neighbors, freely and ingenuously lay open their whole heart; so treacherous and deceitful persons keep a part of their feeling hidden within their own breasts, and cover it with the varnish of hypocrisy and a fair outside; so that from their speech we cannot gather any thing certain with respect to their intentions. Our speech, therefore, must be sincere in order that it may be as it were a mirror, in which the uprightness of our heart may be beheld.
(257) Horsley reads “smooth lips.” “Not smooth,” says he, “with flattery, but with glossing lies, with ensnaring eloquence and specious arguments in support of the wretched cause which they espouse.”
(258) “ Pour se disguiser en diverses sortes.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Vanity.So in Psa. 41:6 and Job. 35:13. Literally, evil. Falsehood would be better. This verse may have been in St Pauls mind (Eph. 4:25).
Flattering lips.Literally, lips of smoothness, (Comp. Note, Psa. 5:9.)
With a double heart.Literally, with a heart and a heart. (Comp. 1Ch. 12:33.) One for the Church, another for the Change; one for Sundays, another for working-days; one for the king, another for the Pope. A man without a heart is a wonder, but a man with two hearts is a monster.Thos. Adams, A.D. 1614.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. They speak vanity That is, emptiness; their words are devoid of meaning, because they do not truly represent any thing, the speaker having no intention of fulfilling what is promised, or of stating things as they really exist.
Flattering lips Slippery words.
A double heart Literally, a heart and a heart; that is, a heart to make a given impression by his slippery words, and another heart to do the opposite to that impression. Opposed to a “perfect heart,” 1Ch 12:33; 1Ch 12:38
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 12:2. They speak vanity They speak falsehood. Mudge. A double heart, in the Hebrew is beleb valeb, with heart and heart; that is, they spake as if they had two hearts: the one to hate their neighbour and form designs against him, and the other to prompt the tongue to pretend a friendship for him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
While the Lord’s people are not earnest to assemble, the vain will assemble, and their conversation will be trifling. The children of this world are, in their generation, wiser than the children of light. But, Reader, it is not among the vain and the carnal that we find vain conversation only. Alas! as our Lord foretold concerning the latter days, so we find it; because iniquity abounds, the love of many is waxen cold. Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: [with] flattering lips [and] with a double heart do they speak.
Ver. 2. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour ] They speak falsely and fraudulently, and therein have an art, as Jer 9:4-5 , such as the devil hath taught them.
With flattering lips
With a double heart do theft speak
Cursus doplicis per mare Ulyssei.
The prophet here meaneth that they had one heart in their body, and another in their mouth, being desperate dissemblers, such as the French are said to be. Those men of Zebulun were none such, 1Ch 12:33 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
They speak. Man’s words contrasted with Jehovah’s words. Compare Psa 12:6, and see Structure above.
double = deceitful. Hebrew “a heart and a heart”. Compare 1Ch 12:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
They: Psa 10:7, Psa 36:3, Psa 36:4, Psa 38:12, Psa 41:6, Psa 52:1-4, Psa 59:12, Psa 144:8, Psa 144:11, Jer 9:2-6, Jer 9:8
flattering: Psa 5:9, Psa 28:3, Psa 62:4, Pro 20:19, Pro 29:5, Eze 12:24, Rom 16:18, 1Th 2:5
a double heart: Heb. an heart and an heart, 1Ch 12:33, *marg. Jam 1:8
Reciprocal: Gen 29:19 – General Gen 34:13 – deceitfully Jdg 8:18 – As thou art Jdg 16:6 – General 1Sa 18:17 – her will I give 2Sa 11:8 – there followed him 2Sa 13:24 – let the king 2Sa 15:3 – thy matters 1Ki 22:30 – and enter into the battle 1Ch 12:17 – If ye be come 2Ch 18:29 – put thou on thy robes Neh 6:2 – they thought Neh 6:10 – Let us meet Job 17:5 – He that Job 31:5 – walked Job 32:22 – I know not Psa 50:19 – tongue Psa 60:4 – because Pro 7:21 – With her Pro 10:18 – that hideth Pro 12:5 – counsels Pro 23:7 – Eat Pro 26:25 – speaketh fair Isa 58:9 – speaking Isa 59:15 – truth Jer 9:4 – ye heed Jer 12:6 – though Dan 11:27 – shall be to Hab 1:3 – General Mat 2:8 – that Mat 15:11 – but Mat 22:16 – we know Mar 12:14 – Master Luk 6:45 – and an Luk 20:21 – Master Act 12:22 – General Act 23:20 – as Act 24:2 – Seeing 1Ti 3:8 – doubletongued Jam 3:5 – so
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 12:2. They speak vanity Or, falsehood, which is a vain thing, and wants the solidity of truth. With a double heart do they speak See the margin. They speak as if they had two hearts, the one inclining them to hate their neighbour, and form designs against him, and the other to prompt the tongue to pretend a friendship for him. When men cease to be faithful to their God, he who expects to find them so to each other will be much disappointed. The primitive sincerity will accompany the primitive piety in her flight from the earth; and then interest will succeed conscience in the regulation of human conduct, till one man cannot trust another further than he holds him by that tie.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: [with] {b} flattering lips [and] with a double heart do they speak.
(b) He means the flatters of the court which hurt him more with their tongues than with their weapons.