Psalm 73

The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted

73A song of Asaph.^a

¹Surely God is good to Israel,

to those pure of heart.

²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.

My steps had nearly slipped,

³because I envied the boastful

when I saw the well-being^b of the wicked.

⁴For there are no pains up to their death,

and their bodies are healthy.^c

⁵They do not have ordinary trouble,^d

and they are not plagued as other people.^e

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;

an outfit of violence covers them.

⁷Their eye bulges from fat.^f

Imaginings overflow their heart.

⁸They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;

they speak as though from on high.

⁹They set their mouth against the heavens,

and their tongue roams the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people turn there,^g

and abundant waters are slurped up by them.

¹¹And they say, “How does God know?”

and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”

¹²See, these are the wicked,

and they increase wealth, ever carefree.

¹³Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,

and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴And I have been plagued all day

and rebuked every morning.^h

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

behold, I would have acted treacherously

against your children’s generation.

¹⁶When I thought about how to understand this,

it was troubling in my eyes

¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God.

Then I understood their fate.

¹⁸Surely you set them on slippery places.

You cause them to fall onto ruin.ⁱ

¹⁹How they become a desolation in a moment!

They come to a complete end by terrors.

²⁰Like a dream upon awakening,

when you wake up, O Lord,

you will despise their fleeting form.^j

²¹When my heart was embittered

and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,

²²then I was brutish and ignorant.

With you I was like the beasts.

²³But I am continually with you;

you have hold of my right hand.

²⁴You will guide me with your advice,

and afterward you will take me into honor.^k

²⁵Whom do I have in the heavens except you?

And with you I have no other desire on earth.

²⁶My flesh and heart failed,

but God is the strength^l of my heart and my reward forever.

²⁷For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.

You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.

²⁸But 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.