Psalm 73–83

Should the Wicked Be Rich?

A psalm of Asaph.

73God is truly good to Israel,

to those who have pure hearts.

²But I had almost stopped believing;

I had almost lost my faith

³because I was jealous of proud people.

I saw wicked people doing well.

⁴They are not suffering;

they are healthy and strong.

⁵They don’t have troubles like the rest of us;

they don’t have problems like other people.

⁶They wear pride like a necklace

and put on violence as their clothing.

⁷They are looking for profits

and do not control their selfish desires.

⁸They make fun of others and speak evil;

proudly they speak of hurting others.

⁹They brag to the sky.

They say that they own the earth.

¹⁰So their people turn to them

and give them whatever they want.

¹¹They say, “How can God know?

What does God Most High know?”

¹²These people are wicked,

always at ease, and getting richer.

¹³So why have I kept my heart pure?

Why have I kept my hands from doing wrong?

¹⁴I have suffered all day long;

I have been punished every morning.

¹⁵God, if I had decided to talk like this,

I would have let your people down.

¹⁶I tried to understand all this,

but it was too hard for me to see

¹⁷until I went to the Temple of God.

Then I understood what will happen to them.

¹⁸You have put them in danger;

you cause them to be destroyed.

¹⁹They are destroyed in a moment;

they are swept away by terrors.

²⁰It will be like waking from a dream.

Lord, when you rise up, they will disappear.

²¹When my heart was sad

and I was angry,

²²I was senseless and stupid.

I acted like an animal toward you.

²³But I am always with you;

you have held my hand.

²⁴You guide me with your advice,

and later you will receive me in honor.

²⁵I have no one in heaven but you;

I want nothing on earth besides you.

²⁶My body and my mind may become weak,

but God is my strength.

He is mine forever.

²⁷Those who are far from God will die;

you destroy those who are unfaithful.

²⁸But I am close to God, and that is good.

The Lord God is my protection.

I will tell all that you have done.

A Nation in Trouble Prays

A maskil of Asaph.

74God, why have you rejected us for so long?

Why are you angry with us, the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember the people you bought long ago.

You saved us, and we are your very own.

After all, you live on Mount Zion.

³Make your way through these old ruins;

the enemy wrecked everything in the Temple.

⁴Those who were against you shouted in your meeting place

and raised their flags there.

⁵They came with axes raised

as if to cut down a forest of trees.

⁶They smashed the carved panels

with their axes and hatchets.

⁷They burned your Temple to the ground;

they have made the place where you live unclean.

⁸They thought, “We will completely crush them!”

They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

⁹We do not see any signs.

There are no more prophets,

and no one knows how long this will last.

¹⁰God, how much longer will the enemy make fun of you?

Will they insult you forever?

¹¹Why do you hold back your power?

Bring your power out in the open and destroy them!

¹²God, you have been our king for a long time.

You bring salvation to the earth.

¹³You split open the sea by your power

and broke the heads of the sea monster.

¹⁴You smashed the heads of the monster Leviathan

and gave it to the desert creatures as food.

¹⁵You opened up the springs and streams

and made the flowing rivers run dry.

¹⁶Both the day and the night are yours;

you made the sun and the moon.

¹⁷You set all the limits on the earth;

you created summer and winter.

¹⁸Lord, remember how the enemy insulted you.

Remember how those foolish people made fun of you.

¹⁹Do not give us, your doves, to those wild animals.

Never forget your poor people.

²⁰Remember the agreement you made with us,

because violence fills every dark corner of this land.

²¹Do not let your suffering people be disgraced.

Let the poor and helpless praise you.

²²God, arise and defend yourself.

Remember the insults that come from those foolish people all day long.

²³Don’t forget what your enemies said;

don’t forget their roar as they rise against you always.

God the Judge

For the director of music. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A psalm of Asaph. A song.

75God, we thank you;

we thank you because you are near.

We tell about the miracles you do.

²You say, “I set the time for trial,

and I will judge fairly.

³The earth with all its people may shake,

but I am the one who holds it steady.

Selah

⁴I say to those who are proud, ‘Don’t brag,’

and to the wicked, ‘Don’t show your power.

⁵Don’t try to use your power against heaven.

Don’t be stubborn.’ ”

⁶No one from the east or the west

or the desert can judge you.

⁷God is the judge;

he judges one person as guilty and another as innocent.

⁸The Lord holds a cup of anger in his hand;

it is full of wine mixed with spices.

He pours it out even to the last drop,

and the wicked drink it all.

⁹I will tell about this forever;

I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.

¹⁰He will take all power away from the wicked,

but the power of good people will grow.

The God Who Always Wins

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song.

76People in Judah know God;

his fame is great in Israel.

²His Tent is in Jerusalem;

his home is on Mount Zion.

³There God broke the flaming arrows,

the shields, the swords, and the weapons of war.

Selah

⁴God, how wonderful you are!

You are more splendid than the hills full of animals.

⁵The brave soldiers were stripped

as they lay asleep in death.

Not one warrior

had the strength to stop it.

⁶God of Jacob, when you spoke strongly,

horses and riders fell dead.

⁷You are feared;

no one can stand against you when you are angry.

⁸From heaven you gave the decision,

and the earth was afraid and silent.

⁹God, you stood up to judge

and to save the needy people of the earth.

Selah

¹⁰People praise you for your anger against evil.

Those who live through your anger are stopped from doing more evil.

¹¹Make and keep your promises to the Lord your God.

From all around, gifts should come to the God we worship.

¹²God breaks the spirits of great leaders;

the kings on earth fear him.

Remembering God’s Help

For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of Asaph.

77I cry out to God;

I call to God, and he will hear me.

²I look for the Lord on the day of trouble.

All night long I reach out my hands,

but I cannot be comforted.

³When I remember God, I become upset;

when I think, I become afraid.

Selah

⁴You keep my eyes from closing.

I am too upset to say anything.

⁵I keep thinking about the old days,

the years of long ago.

⁶At night I remember my songs.

I think and I ask myself:

⁷“Will the Lord reject us forever?

Will he never be kind to us again?

⁸Is his love gone forever?

Has he stopped speaking for all time?

⁹Has God forgotten mercy?

Is he too angry to pity us?”

Selah

¹⁰Then I say “This is what makes me sad:

For years the power of God Most High was with us.”

¹¹I remember what the Lord did;

I remember the miracles you did long ago.

¹²I think about all the things you did

and consider your deeds.

¹³God, your ways are holy.

No god is as great as our God.

¹⁴You are the God who does miracles;

you have shown people your power.

¹⁵By your power you have saved your people,

the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.Selah

¹⁶God, the waters saw you;

they saw you and became afraid;

the deep waters shook with fear.

¹⁷The clouds poured down their rain.

The sky thundered.

Your lightning flashed back and forth like arrows.

¹⁸Your thunder sounded in the whirlwind.

Lightning lit up the world.

The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹You made a way through the sea

and paths through the deep waters,

but your footprints were not seen.

²⁰You led your people like a flock

by using Moses and Aaron.

God Saved Israel from Egypt

A maskil of Asaph.

78My people, listen to my teaching;

listen to what I say.

²I will speak using stories;

I will tell secret things from long ago.

³We have heard them and known them

by what our ancestors have told us.

⁴We will not keep them from our children;

we will tell those who come later

about the praises of the Lord.

We will tell about his power

and the miracles he has done.

⁵The Lord made an agreement with Jacob

and gave the teachings to Israel,

which he commanded our ancestors

to teach to their children.

⁶Then their children would know them,

even their children not yet born.

And they would tell their children.

⁷So they would all trust God

and would not forget what he had done

but would obey his commands.

⁸They would not be like their ancestors

who were stubborn and disobedient.

Their hearts were not loyal to God,

and they were not true to him.

⁹The men of Ephraim had bows for weapons,

but they ran away on the day of battle.

¹⁰They didn’t keep their agreement with God

and refused to live by his teachings.

¹¹They forgot what he had done

and the miracles he had shown them.

¹²He did miracles while their ancestors watched,

in the fields of Zoan in Egypt.

¹³He divided the Red Sea and led them through.

He made the water stand up like a wall.

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by day

and by the light of a fire by night.

¹⁵He split the rocks in the desert

and gave them more than enough water, as if from the deep ocean.

¹⁶He brought streams out of the rock

and caused water to flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But the people continued to sin against him;

in the desert they turned against God Most High.

¹⁸They decided to test God

by asking for the food they wanted.

¹⁹Then they spoke against God,

saying, “Can God prepare food in the desert?

²⁰When he hit the rock, water poured out

and rivers flowed down.

But can he give us bread also?

Will he provide his people with meat?”

²¹When the Lord heard them, he was very angry.

His anger was like fire to the people of Jacob;

his anger grew against the people of Israel.

²²They had not believed God

and had not trusted him to save them.

²³But he gave a command to the clouds above

and opened the doors of heaven.

²⁴He rained manna down on them to eat;

he gave them grain from heaven.

²⁵So they ate the bread of angels.

He sent them all the food they could eat.

²⁶He sent the east wind from heaven

and led the south wind by his power.

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust.

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