Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#12

12. Help, LORD, for Those Who Love Your Truth

Text Information

• First Line: Help, LORD, for those who love your truth have vanished
• Title: Help, LORD, for Those Who Love Your Truth
• Versifier: Marie J. Post (1983)
• Meter: 11 10 11 10
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 12
• Topic: Deliverance; Laments; Poverty; Promises; Providence; Word of God
• Copyright: Text and harmonization © 1987, CRC Publications

Tune Information

• Name: GENEVAN 12
• Composer: Louis Bourgeois (1551)
• Harmonizer: Howard Slenk (1985)
• Meter: 11 10 11 10
• Key: d minor
• Copyright: Text and harmonization © 1987, CRC Publications

Text Information:

A prayer of the godly when oppressed by the arrogant wicked, who have grown so powerful that they shape and control the social order.

Scripture References:
st. 1 = vv.1-2
st. 2 =vv. 3-4
st. 3 = v. 5
st. 4 = vv. 6-8

The circumstances out of which Psalm 12 arises are not uncommon in human history. Whereas Psalm 11 features an individual professing confidence in the LORD's protection against wicked, formidable powers, Psalm 12 uses the voice of the oppressed (v. 7). We stand with the oppressed to ask God for help in a time when the whole social order has become morally corrupt (st. 1), to ask God to execute due penalties on the arrogant wicked (st. 2), to hear a reassuring Word from the divine Protector (st. 3), and to respond with confidence that God's promised protection will not fail (st. 4). Marie J. Post (PHH 5) versified this psalm in 1983 for the Psalter Hymnal.

Liturgical Use:
Any occasion of oppression in the world when God's people want to cry out to the Lord for justice.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

GENEVAN 12 first appeared in the 1551 Genevan Psalter and has thus been attributed to Louis Bourgeois (PHH 3), music editor for the 1551 edition. It is also known as DONNE SECOURS, the first two words of the French text for Psalm 12. The tune is included in many English-language hymnals because of its frequent association with the well-known 1954 text "Hope of the World" (524). Composed in the Dorian mode, this Genevan tune has four phrases and two main rhythmic patterns: one for lines 1 and 3 and another for lines 2 and 4. Howard Slenk (PHH 3) harmonized GENEVAN 12 in 1985 for the Psalter Hymnal.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook