Psalms 73
73
BOOK THREE
(Psalms 73–89)
Psalm 73
A psalm by Asaph.
1God is truly good to Israel,
to those whose lives are pure.
2But my feet had almost stumbled.
They had almost slipped
3because I was envious of arrogant people
when I saw the prosperity that wicked people enjoy.
4They suffer no pain.
Their bodies are healthy.
5They have no drudgery in their lives like ordinary people.
They are not plagued ⌞with problems⌟ like others.
6That is why they wear arrogance like a necklace
and acts of violence like clothing.
7Their eyes peer out from their fat faces,
and their imaginations run wild.
8They ridicule.
They speak maliciously.
They speak arrogantly about oppression.
9They verbally attack heaven,
and they order people around on earth.
10That is why God’s people turn to wickedness
and swallow their words.
11Then wicked people ask, “What does God know?”
“Does the Most High know anything?”
12Look how wicked they are!
They never have a worry.
They grow more and more wealthy.
13I’ve received no reward for keeping my life pure
and washing my hands of any blame.
14I’m plagued ⌞with problems⌟ all day long,
and every morning my punishment ⌞begins again⌟.
15If I had said, “I will continue to talk like that,”
I would have betrayed God’s people.
16But when I tried to understand this,
it was too difficult for me.
17Only when I came into God’s holy place
did I ⌞finally⌟ understand what would happen to them.
18You put them in slippery places
and make them fall into ruin.
19They are suddenly destroyed.
They are completely swept away by terror!
20As ⌞someone⌟ gets rid of a dream when he wakes up,
so you, O Lord, get rid of the thought of them
when you wake up.
21When my heart was filled with bitterness
and my mind was seized ⌞with envy⌟,
22I was stupid, and I did not understand.
I was like a dumb animal in your presence.
23Yet, I am always with you.
You hold on to my right hand.
24With your advice you guide me,
and in the end you will take me to glory.
25As long as I have you,
I don’t need anyone else in heaven or on earth.
26My body and mind may waste away,
but God remains the foundation of my life
and my inheritance forever.
27Without a doubt, those who are far from you will die.
You destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28Being united with God is my highest good.
I have made the Almighty Lord my refuge
so that I may report everything that he has done.
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Psalms 73: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Psalms 73
73
A Psalm of Asaph.
1Only — good to Israel [is] God, to the clean of heart. And I — as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside,
2As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,
3The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death,
4And their might [is] firm.
5In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued.
6Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress.
7Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;
8They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak.
9They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth.
10Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them.
11And they have said, ‘How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?’
12Lo, these [are] the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength.
13Only — a vain thing! I have purified my heart, And I wash in innocency my hands,
14And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof [is] every morning.
15If I have said, ‘I recount thus,’ Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived.
16And I think to know this, Perverseness it [is] in mine eyes,
17Till I come in to the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end.
18Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations.
19How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended — consumed from terrors.
20As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, their image Thou despisest.
21For my heart doth show itself violent, And my reins prick themselves,
22And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.
23And I [am] continually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand.
24With Thy counsel Thou dost lead me, And after honour dost receive me.
25Whom have I in the heavens? And with Thee none I have desired in earth.
26Consumed hath been my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart and my portion [is] God to the age.
27For, lo, those far from Thee do perish, Thou hast cut off every one, Who is going a whoring from Thee.
28And I — nearness of God to me [is] good, I have placed in the Lord Jehovah my refuge, To recount all Thy works!
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