Pride is everywhere, and it feels as if there's nothing good left among people.
When you see the pride of so many and evil overflowing, until nothing holy seems left among people, take refuge in the Lord and say Psalm 12.
Letter to Marcellinus
Psalm 12
What St Athanasius said to pray when pride is everywhere and nothing good seems left, in a letter from the 300s.
- 8Verses
- 1Situation
St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus
When to pray it
In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. This is what he gave this one for.
Psalm 12:5
Where it turns
“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
8 verses, Berean Standard Bible
The whole psalm
Psalm 12
Its own heading For the choirmaster. According to Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
- 1Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
- 2They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
- 3May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue.
- 4They say, “With our tongues we will prevail. We own our lips—who can be our master?”
- 5“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”
- 6The words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace, like gold purified sevenfold.
- 7You, O LORD, will keep us; You will forever guard us from this generation.
- 8The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.
Psalm 12 is 11 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.
When the world seems upside down
Close to this
- People around you mock the idea that God looks after the world, and it's starting to get to you.
- Christians are being killed and their churches destroyed, and it's tearing at you.
- People who don't care about God are doing fine, good people are suffering, and it's shaking you.
- People who do wrong are riding high and pushing the little people around, and you need to tell yourself, and others, not to envy them.
All 53 situations, in one guide.
Suggest a correction. Corrections that are applied are recorded in the public changelog.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.