Psalm 73

Psalm 73

A Psalm of Asaph.

    [1] Truly God is good to Israel,
        to those who are pure in heart.
    [2] But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
        my steps had nearly slipped.
    [3] For I was envious of the arrogant
        when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
 
    [4] For they have no pangs until death;
        their bodies are fat and sleek.
    [5] They are not in trouble as others are;
        they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
    [6] Therefore pride is their necklace;
        violence covers them as a garment.
    [7] Their eyes swell out through fatness;
        their hearts overflow with follies.
    [8] They scoff and speak with malice;
        loftily they threaten oppression.
    [9] They set their mouths against the heavens,
        and their tongue struts through the earth.
    [10] Therefore his people turn back to them,
        and find no fault in them.
    [11] And they say, “How can God know?
        Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
    [12] Behold, these are the wicked;
        always at ease, they increase in riches.
    [13] All in vain have I kept my heart clean
        and washed my hands in innocence.
    [14] For all the day long I have been stricken
        and rebuked every morning.
    [15] If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
        I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
    
    [16] But when I thought how to understand this,
        it seemed to me a wearisome task,
    [17] until I went into the sanctuary of God;
        then I discerned their end.

    [18] Truly you set them in slippery places;
        you make them fall to ruin.
    [19] How they are destroyed in a moment,
        swept away utterly by terrors!
    [20] Like a dream when one awakes,
        O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
    [21] When my soul was embittered,
        when I was pricked in heart,
    [22] I was brutish and ignorant;
        I was like a beast toward you.

    [23] Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
        you hold my right hand.
    [24] You guide me with your counsel,
        and afterward you will receive me to glory.
    [25] Whom have I in heaven but you?
        And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
    [26] My flesh and my heart may fail,
        but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

    [27] For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
        you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
    [28] But for me it is good to be near God;
        I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
        that I may tell of all your works. (ESV)