Psalms 12 · Verse 8

Psalms 12:8

The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
Psalms 12:8, King James Version

Psalms 12:8 in other translations

BSBThe wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.
WEBThe wicked walk on every side, when what is vile is exalted among the sons of men.
ASVThe wicked walk on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
YLTAround the wicked walk continually, According as vileness is exalted by sons of men!
DARBYThe wicked walk about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the children of men.
BBEThe sinners are walking on every side, and evil is honoured among the children of men.
WebsterThe wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

What does Psalms 12:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
8. The wicked roam undisturbed doing evil, when vileness and vile men are exalted.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 8 The wicked walk on every side - The land is full of them. When the vilest men are exalted; rather, As villany gains ground among the sons of Adam. See the Hebrew. The Vulgate has, "In circuito impii ambulant; secundum altitudinem tuam multiplicasti filios hominum;" which is thus translated and paraphrased in my old MS.: - Trans. In umgang wiked gos: eftir thy heenes thu has multiplied the sons of man. Par - Us thy kepes; bot wiked gas in umgang; that es, in covatyng of erdley gudes, that turned with the whele of seven daies: in the qwilk covatys, thai ryn ay aboute; for that sett nane endyng of thaire syn: and tharfor settes God na terme of thair pyne, but sons of men that lyfs skilwisly and in ryghtwisnes, thu has multiplied, aftir thi heghnes in vertus; aftir the heghnes of thi consayll, thou hast multiplied men bath il and gude; for na man may perfitely witt in erd, qwy God makes so many men, the qwilk he wote well sal be dampned: bot it es the privete of his counsayle, so ryghtwis, that no thyng may be ryghtwiser. In this we find a number of singular exrpressions, which, while they elucidate the text, will not be uninteresting to the antiquary. Here, for instance, we see the true etymology of the words righteous and righteousness, i.e., right wise and right wiseness. For we have it above as a noun, "rightwisnes": as an adjective, "rightwis"; and as an adjective in the comparative degree, "rightwiser": and we should have had it as an adverb, ryghtwisely, had not the word "skilwisly" occurred to the author. Righteousness is right wiseness, or that which is according to true wisdom. A righteous man is one who is right wise; properly instructed in Divine wisdom, and acts according to its dictates; and among them who act rightwisely, there are some who act rightwiser than others; and nothing can be rightwiser than ever to think and act according to the principles of that wisdom which comes from above. Right, rectus, straight, is opposed to wrong, from injury, and that from to twist. As rehtan signifies to direct, so wrangen signifies to twist, or turn out of a straight or direct line. Right is straight, and wrong, crooked. Hence the righteous man is one who goes straight forward, acts and walks by line and rule; and the unrighteous is he who walks in crooked paths, does what is wrong, and is never guided by true wisdom. Such a person is sometimes termed wicked, from the Anglo-Saxon to act by witch-craft, (hence wicca, a witch), that is to renounce God and righteousness, and to give one's self to the devil, which is the true character of a wicked man. Let him that readeth understand. The vilest men are exalted - Were we to take this in its obvious sense, it would signify that at that time wickedness was the way to preferment, and that good men were the objects of persecution.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Psalms 12:8 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

סָבִ֗יבsa.Vivall aroundH5439
רְשָׁעִ֥יםre.sha.'Imwicked [people]H7563
יִתְהַלָּכ֑וּןyit.ha.la.Khunthey walk about !H1980
כְּרֻ֥םke.Rumwhen is exaltedH7311
זֻ֝לּ֗וּתzu.LutvilenessH2149
לִבְנֵ֥יliv.Neiby [the] children ofH1121
אָדָֽם\׃'a.DamhumankindH120

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 12:8

  • Mark 14:63-65

    Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.

  • Proverbs 29:12

    If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

  • Psalms 55:10-11

    Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it. Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.

  • Hosea 5:11

    Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

  • Isaiah 32:4-6

    The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

  • Esther 3:6-15

    And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar. And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries. …

  • Judges 9:18-57

    And ye are risen up against my father’s house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you: But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo; and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. …

  • Daniel 11:21

    And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

  • Micah 6:16

    For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

  • Job 30:8

    They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
wicked.
Pr 29:12; Ho 5:11; Mic 6:16
when.
Jud 9:18-57; 1Sa 18:17,18; Es 3:6-15; Isa 32:4-6; Mr 14:63-65
men. Heb. of the sons of men.
Job 30:8; Da 11:21

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 12:7

    Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

  • Psalms 12:8

    The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Read all of Psalms 12

Psalms 12:8 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Cercando andan los malos, mientras son exaltados los más viles de los hijos de los hombres.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Toi, Éternel! tu les garderas, tu les préserveras de cette génération, à toujours.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Die Gesetzlosen wandeln ringsumher, wenn die Gemeinheit erhöht ist bei den Menschenkindern.