Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

¹ Yes, God is good to the upright, the Lord to the pure in heart.

² But my feet were almost gone, my steps had nearly slipped,

³ through envy of godless braggarts, when I saw how well they fared.

⁴ For never a pang have they, their body is sound and sleek.

⁵ They have no trouble like mortals, no share in human pain.

⁶ So they wear their pride like a necklace, they put on the garment of wrong,

⁷ their eyes stand out with fatness, their heart swells with riotous fancies.

⁸ Their speech is mocking and evil, condescending and crooked their speech.

⁹ They have set their mouth in the heavens, while their tongue struts about on the earth.

¹⁰ Small wonder that people resort to them, and drink deep draughts of their lore.

¹¹ “How does God know?” they say, “And has the Most High any knowledge?”

¹² See! These are the godless, with wealth and ease ever increasing.

¹³ Yes, in vain have I kept my heart pure, and washed my hands in innocence;

¹⁴ for all the day long was I plagued not a morning but I was chastised.

¹⁵ But to resolve to speak like they do would be treachery to your children.

¹⁶ So I sought to understand it, but a wearisome task it seemed:

¹⁷ till I entered the holy world of God and saw clearly their destiny.

¹⁸ Yes, you set them on slippery places; down to destruction you hurl them.

¹⁹ One moment and then what a horror of ruin! They are finished and ended in terrors.

²⁰ Like a dream, when one wakes, shall they be, whose phantoms the waker despises.

²¹ So my bitterness of mind and the pain that stabbed my heart

²² show how dull I was and stupid just like a beast before you.

²³ But I am always with you, you have hold of my right hand.

²⁴ By a plan of yours you guide me and will afterward take me to glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in the heavens but you? And on earth there is none I desire beside you.

²⁶ Though flesh and heart waste away, yet God is the rock of my heart, yet God is my portion forever.

²⁷ For see! Those who are far from you must perish, you destroy all who are false to you.

²⁸ But I am happy when close to God; the Lord my God I have made my refuge, that I may recount all the things you have done.