Psalm 73

THE PSALMS: BOOK 3

PSALM 73

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹Truly God is good to the upright,

to those who are pure in heart.

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

my steps had well nigh slipped.

³For I was envious of the arrogant,

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs;

their bodies are sound and sleek.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men are;

they are not stricken like other men.

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes swell out with fatness,

their hearts overflow with follies.

⁸They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore the people turn and praise them;

and find no fault in them.

¹¹And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³All in vain have I kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all the day long I have been stricken,

and chastened every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have been untrue to the generation of thy children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I perceived their end.

¹⁸Truly thou dost set them in slippery places;

thou dost make them fall to ruin.

¹⁹How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

²⁰They are like a dream when one awakes,

on awaking you despise their phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

²²I was stupid and ignorant,

I was like a beast toward thee.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee;

thou dost hold my right hand.

²⁴Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,

and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but thee?

And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.

²⁷For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish;

thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.

²⁸But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,

that I may tell of all thy works.