Psalms 73
1 A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!
A psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose minds are pure.
2 But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.
But I was stumbling, my feet were starting to slide,
3 Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.
because I was jealous of self-important people—I saw how well the wicked were doing.
4 For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes.
They don't ever seem to get sick; they are strong and healthy.
5 They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men.
They don't have problems like other people; they don't get hit by disasters like everybody else.
6 Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.
They wear their pride like a necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
7 Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart.
Their eyes bulge out because they're so fat; their minds are full of selfish vanity.
8 They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.
They mock people, and speak maliciously; they arrogantly threaten cruelty.
9 They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth.
They talk irreverently against heaven above, and defame people here on earth.
10 Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them.
As a result people turn to them and drink in everything they say.
11 And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
“God won't find out,” they say. “The Most High doesn't even know what's going on!”
12 Behold these are sinners; and yet abounding in the world they have obtained riches.
Look at these wicked people! They don't have a care in the world, and they're always making money!
13 And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent.
It's been pointless to keep my mind pure and my hands clean.
14 And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings.
I'm cursed with suffering all day long; every morning I'm punished.
15 If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children.
If I'd talked like this to others, I would have betrayed your people.
16 I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight:
So I thought about it and tried to understand, but it looked like a lot of hard work to me—
17 Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.
until I went into God's Temple. Then I understood what happens to the wicked in the end.
18 But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down.
For you send them on a slippery path; you throw them down to destruction.
19 How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.
How quickly they're destroyed! They come to a terrifying end.
20 As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.
Like waking up from a dream, Lord—when you get up you will forget all about them!
21 For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:
At that time my thoughts were bitter. I felt like I had been stabbed.
22 And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.
I was stupid and ignorant. I was like a brute beast to you.
23 I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.
Yet I'm always with you; you hold me by the hand.
24 Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.
You tell me what to do; and ultimately you will welcome me in glory.
25 For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?
Who is there in heaven for me except you? And I want nothing on earth except you.
26 For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
My body and my mind may fail, but God is the foundation of my life. He is mine forever!
27 For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.
Those people who are far from God will die. You destroy all those unfaithful to you.
28 But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.
But I love to stay close to God! I have chosen the Lord God to protect me. I will share all that you have done.
