Psalm 73

A Psalm of Asaph.

73 ¹Surely God is good to Israel,

Even to such as are pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone;

My steps had well nigh slipped.

³For I was envious at the arrogant,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For there are no pangs in their death;

But their strength is firm.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men;

Neither are they plagued like other men.

⁶Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;

Violence covereth them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness:

They have more than heart could wish.

⁸They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:

They speak loftily.

⁹They have set their mouth in the heavens,

And their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people return hither:

And waters of a full cup are drained by them.

¹¹And they say, How doth God know?

And is there knowledge in the Most High?

¹²Behold, these are the wicked;

And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,

And washed my hands in innocency;

¹⁴For all the day long have I been plagued,

And ^achastened every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, I will speak thus;

Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children.

¹⁶When I thought how I might know this,

It was too painful for me;

¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God,

And considered their latter end.

¹⁸Surely thou settest them in slippery places:

Thou castest them down to destruction.

¹⁹How are they become a desolation in a moment!

They are utterly consumed with terrors.

²⁰As a dream when one awaketh,

So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.

²¹For my soul was grieved,

And I was pricked in my heart:

²²So brutish was I, and ignorant;

I was as a beast before thee.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee:

Thou hast holden my right hand.

²⁴Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but thee?

And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.

²⁶My flesh and my heart faileth;

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

²⁷For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish:

Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.

²⁸But it is good for me to draw near unto God:

I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,

That I may tell of all thy works.