Psalms 12:8 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The wicked walk on every side They fill all places, and go about boldly and securely, seeking to deceive, corrupt, and destroy others, being neither afraid nor ashamed to discover themselves; when the vilest of men are exalted To places of trust and power, who, instead of putting the laws in execution against vice and injustice, and punishing the wicked according to their deserts, patronize and protect them, or give them countenance and support by their own example. The Hebrew, כרם זלות, cherum zulloth, is literally, when vilenesses are exalted, when all manner of wickedness, lying, slandering, profaneness, oppression, cruelty, and the like, instead of being punished and suppressed, are countenanced and encouraged by magistrates and persons of power and influence. Both these interpretations come to one. For when vile persons are exalted, so also are vile practices. Both these, it appears, were advanced and encouraged under Saul's government, which caused David to complain that the foundations were destroyed, Psalms 11:3.