Psalms 73

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped.

³ For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For they have no pangs; their bodies are sound and sleek.

⁵ They are not in trouble as other men are; they are not stricken like other men.

⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.

⁷ Their eyes swell out with 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 the people turn and praise 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 chastened every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have been untrue to the generation of thy 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 perceived their end.

¹⁸ Truly thou dost set them in slippery places; thou dost make them fall to ruin.

¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

²⁰ They are like a dream when one awakes, on awaking you despise their phantoms.

²¹ When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

²² I was stupid and ignorant, I was like a beast toward thee.

²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee; thou dost hold my right hand.

²⁴ Thou dost guide me with thy counsel, and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.

²⁷ For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish; thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.

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 thy works.