Psalms 73
1 A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!
BOOK III A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart.
2 But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.
For I was envious at the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes.
For there are no pangs at their death, and their body is sound.
5 They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men.
In the trouble of man they are not; neither are they plagued like men.
6 Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.
Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart.
Their eyes stand forth from fatness; they are gone beyond the imaginations of their heart.
8 They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.
They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression; they speak as if there were none on high.
9 They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth.
They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them.
Therefore His people return hither; and waters of fullness are drained out by them.
11 And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
And they say: 'How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'
12 Behold these are sinners; and yet abounding in the world they have obtained riches.
Behold, such are the wicked; and they that are always at ease increase riches.
13 And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent.
Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency;
14 And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings.
For all the day have I been plagued, and my chastisement came every morning.
15 If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children.
If I had said: 'I will speak thus', behold, I had been faithless to the generation of Thy children.
16 I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight:
And when I pondered how I might know this, it was wearisome in mine eyes;
17 Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.
Until I entered into the sanctuary of God, and considered their end.
18 But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down.
Surely Thou settest them in slippery places; Thou hurlest them down to utter ruin.
19 How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.
How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are wholly consumed by terrors.
20 As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.
As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou arousest Thyself, Thou wilt despise their semblance.
21 For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:
For my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins.
22 And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.
But I was brutish, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee.
23 I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.
Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou holdest my right 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.
Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me with glory.
25 For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?
Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And beside Thee I desire none upon earth.
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 flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.
For, lo, they that go far from Thee shall perish; Thou dost destroy all them that go astray from Thee.
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 as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works.
