They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

PSALMS 12:2KJV
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Psalms 12:2 (KJV)

What does Psalms 12:2 mean?

Psalms 12:2 describes a community where people cannot trust what their neighbours say. The speaker complains that pleasant words can conceal a different purpose, making ordinary conversation a place of deception rather than honesty.

After the plea for help in verse 1, the speaker points to speech between neighbours. The image of a “double heart” pictures a person whose outward words and inward intentions do not match.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 12:2

  • “vanity” — שָׁוְא (shav): This word can carry the sense of emptiness or falsehood. Here, it suggests speech that has no trustworthy substance.
  • “flattering” — חָלָק (chalaq): This word is associated with smoothness. The image suggests words that sound pleasing while concealing the speaker’s purpose.
  • “double heart” — לֵב (lev): The word for “heart” is repeated in the Hebrew, giving the picture of a “heart and heart.” The repetition sharpens the image of divided or concealed intentions.

Why Psalms 12:2 matters

  • The complaint reaches into everyday relationships. “Every one with his neighbour” places the problem among people who live alongside one another, not just among distant rulers.
  • The passage treats misleading speech as a matter of pride as well as harm. In verse 4, the speakers claim power through their lips and ask who is lord over them.
  • The contrast with God’s words is deliberate. Verse 6 calls his words “pure,” setting them against the unreliable speech described in verse 2.

Where else these words appear

“flattering” Hebrew H2513 · used in 25 verses

  • Genesis 27:16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
  • 2 Samuel 23:11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.
  • 1 Chronicles 11:14 And they set themselves in the midst of that parcel, and delivered it, and slew the Philistines; and the LORD saved them by a great deliverance.

“vanity” Hebrew H7723 · used in 48 verses

  • Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
  • Psalms 108:12 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
  • Jeremiah 46:11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.