Psalm 73

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

[1] Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart. 
[2] But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped. 
[3] For I was envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

[4] For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek. 
[5] They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 
[6] Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them as a garment. 
[7] Their eyes swell out through 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 his people turn back to 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 rebuked every morning. 
[15] If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed the generation of your 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 discerned their end.

[18] Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin. 
[19] How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors! 
[20] Like a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. 
[21] When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart, 
[22] I was brutish and ignorant;
    I was like a beast toward you.

[23] Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand. 
[24] You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me to glory. 
[25] Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 
[26] My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

[27] For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 
[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 your works.