Psalms 73
1 A PSALM OF ASAPH. Surely God [is] good to Israel, to the clean of heart. And I—as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside,
A psalm of Asaph. Yes, God is good to the upright, the Lord to the pure in heart.
2 As nothing, my steps have slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,
But my feet were almost gone, my steps had nearly slipped,
3 I see the peace of the wicked, That there are no bands at their death,
through envy of godless braggarts, when I saw how well they fared.
4 And their might [is] firm.
For never a pang have they, their body is sound and sleek.
5 They are not in the misery of mortals, And they are not plagued with common men.
They have no trouble like mortals, no share in human pain.
6 Therefore pride has encircled them, Violence covers them as a dress.
So they wear their pride like a necklace, they put on the garment of wrong,
7 Their eye has come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;
their eyes stand out with fatness, their heart swells with riotous fancies.
8 They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, They speak from on high.
Their speech is mocking and evil, condescending and crooked their speech.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walks in the earth.
They have set their mouth in the heavens, while their tongue struts about on the earth.
10 Therefore His people return here, And waters of fullness are wrung out to them.
Small wonder that people resort to them, and drink deep draughts of their lore.
11 And they have said, “How has God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
‘How does God know?’ they say, ‘And has the Most High any knowledge?’
12 Behold, these [are] the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength.
See! These are the godless, with wealth and ease ever increasing.
13 Only—a vain thing! I have purified my heart, And I wash my hands in innocence,
Yes, in vain have I kept my heart pure, and washed my hands in innocence;
14 And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof—every morning.
for all the day long was I plagued not a morning but I was chastised.
15 If I have said, “I recount thus,” Behold, I have deceived a generation of Your sons.
But to resolve to speak like they do would be treachery to your children.
16 And I think to know this, It [is] perverseness in my eyes,
So I sought to understand it, but a wearisome task it seemed:
17 Until I come into the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end.
till I entered the holy world of God and saw clearly their destiny.
18 Surely You set them in slippery places, You have caused them to fall to desolations.
Yes, you set them on slippery places; down to destruction you hurl them.
19 How they have become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended—consumed from terrors.
One moment and then what a horror of ruin! They are finished and ended in terrors.
20 As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, You despise their image.
Like a dream, when one wakes, shall they be, whose phantoms the waker despises.
21 For my heart shows itself violent, And my reins prick themselves,
So my bitterness of mind and the pain that stabbed my heart
22 And I am brutish, and do not know. I have been a beast with You.
show how dull I was and stupid just like a beast before you.
23 And I [am] continually with You, You have laid hold on my right hand.
But I am always with you, you have hold of my right hand.
24 You lead me with Your counsel, And after, receive me [to] glory.
By a plan of yours you guide me and will afterward take me to glory.
25 Whom do I have in the heavens? And none have I desired in earth [besides] You.
Whom have I in the heavens but you? And on earth there is none I desire beside you.
26 My flesh and my heart have been consumed, God [is] the rock of my heart and my portion for all time.
Though flesh and heart waste away, yet God is the rock of my heart, yet God is my portion forever.
27 For behold, those far from You perish, You have cut off everyone, Who is going whoring from You.
For see! Those who are far from you must perish, you destroy all who are false to you.
28 And [the] nearness of God to me [is] good, I have placed my refuge in Lord YHWH, To recount all Your works!
But I am happy when close to God; the Lord my God I have made my refuge, that I may recount all the things you have done.
