Psalms73

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

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

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

⁴For they have no pangs until death ; their bodies are fat and sleek .

⁵They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind .

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

⁷Their eyes swell out through fatness ; their hearts overflow with follies .

⁸They scoff and speak with malice ; loftily they threaten oppression .

⁹They set their mouths against the heavens , and their tongue struts through the earth .

¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them , and find no fault in them.

¹¹And they say , How can God know ? Is there knowledge in the Most High ?

¹²Behold , these are the wicked ; always at ease , they increase in riches .

¹³All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence .

¹⁴For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning .

¹⁵If I had said , I will speak thus , I would have betrayed the generation of your children .

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this , it seemed to me a wearisome task,

¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God ; then I discerned their end .

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

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

²⁰Like a dream when one awakes , O Lord , when you rouse yourself , you despise them as phantoms .

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

²²I was brutish and ignorant ; I was like a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand .

²⁴You guide me with your counsel , and afterward you will receive me to glory .

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

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

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

²⁸But 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 .