Psalms 73
73
The Trial of the Just
1A psalm of Asaph.
How good God is to the upright,
to those who are pure of heart!
I
2But, as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped,
3Because I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.#Ps 37:1; Jb 21:13.
4For they suffer no pain;
their bodies are healthy and sleek.
5They are free of the burdens of life;
they are not afflicted like others.
6Thus pride adorns them as a necklace;
violence clothes them as a robe.
7Out of such blindness comes sin;
evil thoughts flood their hearts.#Jb 15:27.
8They scoff and spout their malice;
from on high they utter threats.#Ps 17:10.
9#They set their mouths against the heavens: in an image probably derived from mythic stories of half-divine giants, the monstrous speech of the wicked is likened to enormous jaws gaping wide, devouring everything in sight.They set their mouths against the heavens,
their tongues roam the earth.
10#The Hebrew is obscure.So my people turn to them
and drink deeply of their words.
11They say, “Does God really know?”
“Does the Most High have any knowledge?”#Ps 10:11; Jb 22:13.
12Such, then, are the wicked,
always carefree, increasing their wealth.
II
13Is it in vain that I have kept my heart pure,
washed my hands in innocence?#Ps 26:6; Mal 3:14.
14For I am afflicted day after day,
chastised every morning.
15Had I thought, “I will speak as they do,”
I would have betrayed this generation of your children.
16Though I tried to understand all this,
it was too difficult for me,
17Till I entered the sanctuary of God
and came to understand their end.#And came to understand their end: the psalmist receives a double revelation in the Temple: 1) the end of the wicked comes unexpectedly (Ps 73:18–20); 2) God is with me.
III
18You set them, indeed, on a slippery road;
you hurl them down to ruin.
19How suddenly they are devastated;
utterly undone by disaster!
20They are like a dream after waking, Lord,
dismissed like shadows when you arise.#Jb 20:8.
IV
21Since my heart was embittered
and my soul deeply wounded,
22I was stupid and could not understand;
I was like a brute beast in your presence.
23Yet I am always with you;
you take hold of my right hand.#Ps 121:5.
24With your counsel you guide me,
and at the end receive me with honor.#And at the end receive me with honor: a perhaps deliberately enigmatic verse. It is understood by some commentators as reception into heavenly glory, hence the traditional translation, “receive me into glory.” The Hebrew verb can indeed refer to mysterious divine elevation of a righteous person into God’s domain: Enoch in Gn 5:24; Elijah in 2 Kgs 2:11–12; the righteous psalmist in Ps 49:16. Personal resurrection in the Old Testament, however, is clearly attested only in the second century B.C. The verse is perhaps best left unspecified as a reference to God’s nearness and protection.
25Whom else have I in the heavens?
None beside you delights me on earth.
26Though my flesh and my heart fail,
God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.
27But those who are far from you perish;
you destroy those unfaithful to you.
28As 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.#In the gates of daughter Zion: this reading follows the tradition of the Septuagint and Vulgate.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Psalms 73
73
The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted
A song of Asaph.#The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm
1Surely God is good to Israel,
to those pure of heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled.
My steps had nearly slipped,
3because I envied the boastful
when I saw the well-being#Or “peace” or “prosperity” of the wicked.
4For there are no pains up to their death,
and their bodies are healthy.#Literally “fat”
5They do not have ordinary trouble,#Literally “the trouble of man”
and they are not plagued as other people.#Hebrew “humankind”
6Therefore pride is their necklace;
an outfit of violence covers them.
7Their eye bulges from fat.#A slightly different Hebrew reading might be reflected in the LXX’s “their iniquity comes out of fatness”
Imaginings overflow their heart.
8They mock and speak maliciously of oppression;
they speak as though from on high.
9They set their mouth against the heavens,
and their tongue roams the earth.
10Therefore his people turn there,#That is, toward the wicked
and abundant waters are slurped up by them.
11And they say, “How does God know?”
and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12See, these are the wicked,
and they increase wealth, ever carefree.
13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14And I have been plagued all day
and rebuked every morning.#Literally “to the mornings”
15If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
behold, I would have acted treacherously
against your children’s generation.
16When I thought about how to understand this,
it was troubling in my eyes
17until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then I understood their fate.
18Surely you set them on slippery places.
You cause them to fall onto ruin.#Or “fall for deceptions”
19How they become a desolation in a moment!
They come to a complete end by terrors.
20Like a dream upon awakening,
when you wake up, O Lord,
you will despise their fleeting form.#Or “image”
21When my heart was embittered
and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,
22then I was brutish and ignorant.
With you I was like the beasts.
23But I am continually with you;
you have hold of my right hand.
24You will guide me with your advice,
and afterward you will take me into honor.#Or “to glory”
25Whom do I have in the heavens except you?
And with you I have no other desire on earth.
26My flesh and heart failed,
but God is the strength#Literally “rock” of my heart and my reward forever.
27For indeed, those distancing themselves from you will be ruined.
You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.
28But as for me, the approach to God is for my good.
I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
in order to tell all your works.
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