Psalms 73

KING JAMES BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.	1 The understanding of Asaph. O God, why have you rejected us to the end. Why has your fury become enraged over the sheep of your pasture?
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.	2 Be mindful of your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. You redeemed the scepter of your inheritance, mount Zion, in which you have dwelt.
3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.	3 Lift up your hands against their arrogance in the end. How great the malice of the enemy has been in the sanctuary!
4 For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.	4 And those who hate you have been glorified, in the midst of your solemnity. They have set up their own signs as a proof,
5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.	5 as if it had been issued from on high; yet they did not understand. As in a forest of chopped wood,
6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.	6 they have cut down the entrances themselves. With axe and hatchet, they have brought it down.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.	7 They have set fire to your Sanctuary. They have polluted the tabernacle of your name on earth.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.	8 They have said in their heart, the whole group of them together: “Let us cause all the feast days of God to cease from the land.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.	9 We have not seen our proof; there is now no prophet. And he will no longer know us.”
10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.	10 How long, O God, will the enemy place blame? Is the adversary to provoke your name until the end?
11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?	11 Why do you turn your hand away, even your right hand, from the midst of your sinews, until the end?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.	12 But God is our king before all ages. He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.	13 In your virtue, you confirmed the sea. You crushed the heads of the serpents in the waters.
14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.	14 You have broken the heads of the serpent. You have given him as food for the people of the Ethiopians.
15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.	15 You have disrupted the fountains and the torrents. You have dried up the rivers of Ethan.
16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;	16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night. You have made the morning light and the sun.
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.	17 You have made all the limits of the earth. The summer and the spring were formed by you.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.	18 Be mindful of this: the enemy placed blame against the Lord, and a foolish people has incited against your name.
19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.	19 Do not hand over to beasts the souls that confess to you; and do not forget the souls of your poor until the end.
20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.	20 Consider your covenant. For those who have been darkened upon the earth have been filled by the iniquity of the houses.
21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.	21 Do not allow the humble to be turned away in confusion. The poor and the needy will praise your name.
22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.	22 Rise up, O God, judge your own case. Call to mind the accusations against you, which are made by the foolish all day long.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.	23 Do not forget the voices of your adversaries. The arrogance of those who hate you rises up continually.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.