Psalm 73:title–82:8
The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted
73 A song of Asaph.a
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those pure of heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped,
3 because I envied the boastful
when I saw the well-beingb of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains up to their death,
and their bodies are ⌊healthy⌋.c
5 They do not have ⌊ordinary trouble⌋,d
and they are not plagued as other people.e
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
an outfit of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from fat.f
Imaginings overflow their heart.
8 They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;
they speak as though from on high.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue roams the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn there,g
and abundant waters are slurped up by them.
11 And they say, “How does God know?”
and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”
and they increase wealth, ever carefree.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 And I have been plagued all day
and rebuked ⌊every morning⌋.h
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
behold, I would have acted treacherously
against your children’s generation.
16 When I thought about how to understand this,
it was troubling in my eyes
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their fate.
18 Surely you set them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall onto ruin.i
19 How they become a desolation in a moment!
They come to a complete end by terrors.
20 Like a dream upon awakening,
when you wake up, O Lord,
you will despise their fleeting form.j
21 When my heart was embittered
and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,
22 then I was brutish and ignorant.
With you I was like the beasts.
23 But I am continually with you;
you have hold of my right hand.
24 You will guide me with your advice,
and afterward you will take me into honor.k
25 Whom do I have in the heavens except you?
And with you I have no other desire on earth.
but God is the ⌊strength⌋l of my heart and my reward forever.
27 For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.
You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.
28 But as for me, the approach to God is for my good.
I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
in order to tell all your works.
A Lament in Time of National Defeat
74 A maskil of Asaph.a
1 Why, O God, have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smoke
against the sheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation that you bought long ago,
when you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance.
Remember ⌊Mount Zion⌋b where you have dwelt.
3 Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins,
to all that the enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.
4 Your enemies have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they have set up their signs for signs.
5 They arec known to be like those who ⌊wield⌋d
axes in a thicket of trees.
6 And nowe itsf carved works altogether
they have smashed with axe and hammer.
7 They have set fire to your sanctuary.
They have defiled to the ground,
the dwelling place for your name.
8 They have said in their heart,
“We will completelyg oppress them.”
They burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
and there is no longer a prophet.
No one with us knows how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary taunt?
Will the enemy treat your name with contempt forever?
11 Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it from your bosom;h destroy them!
12 But God has been my king from long ago,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You split open the sea by your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food to the desert dwelling creatures.
15 You split open spring and wadi.i
You dried up ever-flowing rivers.
16 Yours is the day, yours is the night also.
You established light and the sun.
17 You definedj all the boundaries of the earth;
Summer and winter—you formed them.
18 O Yahweh, remember this: the enemy taunts,
and foolish people treat your name with contempt.
19 Do not give to beasts the life of your dove;
do not ever forget the life of your afflicted ones.
20 Have regard for the covenant,
because the dark places of the land are full of
the haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back humiliated;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
remember the reproaching of you by the foolish ⌊all day long⌋.k
23 Do not forget the sound of your adversaries,
the roar of those rising up against you ascending continually.
Thanksgiving for God’s Future Help
75 For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.a
1 We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, and your name is near.
Your wonderful deeds are told.b
2 “I will indeed set an appointed time;
I will judge fairly.c
3 The earth and all its inhabitants are shaking;d
I steadye its columns. Selah
4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast!’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn!
5 Do not lift up high yourf horn.
Do not speak with ⌊arrogant pride⌋.’ ”g
6 For it is not from the east or the west
and not from the southh that lifting up comes,
one he brings low, and another he lifts up.
8 For there is a cup in the hand of Yahweh
withi wine that foams, fully mixed,
and he pours out from this.
Surely all the wicked of the land
⌊will quaff it down to its dregs⌋. j
9 But as for me, I will proclaim forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 “And all the horns of the wicked I will cut off.
The horns of the righteous will be lifted up.”
Praise to God for His Rescue of Israel
76 For the music director, with stringed instruments.
A psalm of Asaph. A song.a
His name is great in Israel.
2 His denb has been in Salem,
his lairc in Zion.
3 There he broke the flames of the bow,
the shield and sword and battle. Selah
4 Radiantd you are, majestic,
frome the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are plundered;
they sleep their sleep,
and all the able men cannot ⌊use⌋f their hands.
6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both riderg and horse slumber.
7 ⌊You, indeed, are to be feared⌋,h
and who can stand before you
when you are angry? i
8 From heaven you proclaimed judgment.
The earth feared and was still
to save all the afflicted of the land. Selah
10 For the anger of humankind will praise you.
You will put on the remnant of anger.j
11 Make vows and fulfill them to Yahweh, your God;
let all surrounding him
bring tribute to the one to be feared.k
12 He cuts off the spirit of leaders.
He is to be feared by the kings of the earth.
Remembering God’s Help for Israel
77 For the music director, on Jeduthun.a
Of Asaph. A psalm.b
1 I cry out with my voice to God;
with my voice to God, that he may hear me.
2 In the day I have trouble, I seekc the Lord.
At night my hand stretches out ⌊continually⌋;d
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 I remember God and I groan loudly;
I meditate and my spirit grows faint. Selah
I am troubled and cannot speak.
5 I think about the days from long ago,
the years of ancient times.
6 I remember my song in the night.
With my heart I meditate,
and my spirit searches to understand.
7 Will the Lord reject us forever,
and will he never be pleased with us again?
8 Has his loyal love ceased forever?
Is his promisee ended throughout generations?
9 Has God forgotten to have compassion?
Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah
10 So I said, “This pierces me—f
the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
11 I will remember the deeds of Yah.g
Surely I will remember your wondersh from long ago.
12 I will also muse on all your work,
and meditate on your deeds.
13 O God, your way is distinctive.i
Who is a great god like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;j
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 With your arm you redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
waters saw you and they trembled.
Surely the deeps shook.
17 The clouds poured out water.
The skies ⌊thundered⌋.k
Your arrows also ⌊flew about⌋.l
18 The sound of your thunder was in the whirlwind;m
lightnings lit the world;
the earth shook and quaked.
19 Your way was through the sea,
and your pathn through many waters.
Yet your footprints were not discerned.o
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
God’s Faithfulness in Israel’s History
78 A maskil of Asaph.a
1 Listen, O my people, to my teaching.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will offerb a parable with my mouth.
I will pour out riddles from long ago,
3 that we have heard and known,
and our ancestorsc have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children,d
telling the next generation the praises of Yahweh,
and his power and his wonders that he has done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob,
and appointed a lawe in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestorsf
to teach to their children,
6 so that the next generation might know—
children yet to be born—
that they might rise up and tell their children,
7 that they might set their confidence in God,
and not forget the deeds of God,
but keep his commandments,
8 and not be like their ancestors,g
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not make ready its heart,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The sons of Ephraim, ⌊armed with archers⌋,h
turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to go in his law.i
11 They also forgot his deeds,
and his wonders that he had shown them.
12 In front of their ancestorsj he did a wonder,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He split the sea and caused them to go over,
and he caused waters to stand like a heap.
14 And he led them with the cloud by day,
and all night with a fiery light.
15 He caused rocks to split in the wilderness
and