STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

Help, Lord, for men of virtue fail Complaint of a general corruption of manners; or, The promise and signs of Christ's coming to judgment

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 12, printed in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated, where he set the psalms "in the language of the New Testament".

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1719 The Psalms of David Imitated · no. 2

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 8 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 12 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 8 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

AMONG THE SCRIPTURES

The stanzas at the centre; around them, every book its heading and its echoes come from, Old Testament on the left and New on the right. Choose a stanza or a book.

a line echoes this verse its heading or an echo comes from here

STANZA I

Help, Lord, for men of virtue fail

Help, Lord, for men of virtue fail,

Religion loses ground,

The sons of violence prevail,

And treacheries abound.

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 12, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

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?” … 4 more verses PSALM 12 · ITS FIRST VERSES · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 12

Help, Lord, for men of virtue fail, Religion loses ground, The sons of violence prevail, And treacheries abound. STANZA I

Its place in the book

Watts's psalms run from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150, several settings to many psalms: 367 hymns. This is number 2. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 2 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Help, Lord, for men of virtue fail

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