Psalms 73

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 A psalm of Asaph. How good God is to the upright, the Lord, to those who are clean of heart!	1 A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!
2 I But, as for me, I lost my balance; my feet all but slipped,	2 But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 Because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.	3 Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.
4 For they suffer no pain; their bodies are healthy and sleek.	4 For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes.
5 They are free of the burdens of life; they are not afflicted like others.	5 They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men. B Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.
6 Thus pride adorns them as a necklace; violence clothes them as a robe.	6 dummy verses inserted by amos
7 Out of their stupidity comes sin; evil thoughts flood their hearts.	7 Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart.
8 They scoff and spout their malice; from on high they utter threats.	8 They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens, their tongues roam the earth.	9 They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth.
10 So my people turn to them and drink deeply of their words.	10 Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them.
11 They say, "Does God really know?" "Does the Most High have any knowledge?"	11 And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Such, then, are the wicked, always carefree, increasing their wealth.	12 Behold these are sinners; and yet abounding in the world they have obtained riches.
13 Is it in vain that I have kept my heart clean, washed my hands in innocence?	13 And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent.
14 For I am afflicted day after day, chastised every morning.	14 And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings.
15 Had I thought, "I will speak as they do," I would have betrayed your people.	15 If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children.
16 Though I tried to understand all this, it was too difficult for me,	16 I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight:
17 Till I entered the sanctuary of God and came to understand their end.	17 Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.
18 You set them, indeed, on a slippery road; you hurl them down to ruin.	18 But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down.
19 How suddenly they are devastated; undone by disasters forever!	19 How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.
20 They are like a dream after waking, Lord, dismissed like shadows when you arise.	20 As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.
21 Since my heart was embittered and my soul deeply wounded,	21 For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:
22 I was stupid and could not understand; I was like a brute beast in your presence.	22 and I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.
23 Yet I am always with you; you take hold of my right hand.	23 I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.
24 With your counsel you guide me, and at the end receive me with honor.	24 Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.
25 Whom else have I in the heavens? None beside you delights me on earth.	25 For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?
26 Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.	26 For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
27 But those who are far from you perish; you destroy those unfaithful to you.	27 For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.
28 As for me, to be near God is my good, to make the Lord GOD my refuge. I shall declare all your works in the gates of daughter Zion.	28 But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.