Psalms - Chapter 73

¹ [Psalm Of Asaph] Indeed God is good to Israel, the Lord to those who are pure of heart.

² My feet were on the point of stumbling, a little more and I had slipped,

³ envying the arrogant as I did, and seeing the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For them no such thing as pain, untroubled, their comfortable portliness;

⁵ exempt from the cares which are the human lot, they have no part in Adam's afflictions.

⁶ So pride is a necklace to them, violence the garment they wear.

⁷ From their fat oozes out malice, their hearts drip with cunning.

⁸ Cynically they advocate evil, loftily they advocate force.

⁹ Their mouth claims heaven for themselves, and their tongue is never still on earth.

¹⁰ That is why my people turn to them, and enjoy the waters of plenty,

¹¹ saying, 'How can God know? What knowledge can the Most High have?'

¹² That is what the wicked are like, piling up wealth without any worries.

¹³ Was it useless, then, to have kept my own heart clean, to have washed my hands in innocence?

¹⁴ When I was under a hail of blows all day long, and punished every morning,

¹⁵ had I said, 'I shall talk like them,' I should have betrayed your children's race.

¹⁶ So I set myself to understand this: how difficult I found it!

¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuaries of the gods and understood what was destined to become of them.

¹⁸ You place them on a slippery slope and drive them down into chaos.

¹⁹ How sudden their hideous destruction! They are swept away, annihilated by terror!

²⁰ Like a dream upon waking, Lord, when you awake, you dismiss their image.

²¹ My heart grew embittered, my affections dried up,

²² I was stupid and uncomprehending, a clumsy animal in your presence.

²³ Even so, I stayed in your presence, you grasped me by the right hand;

²⁴ you will guide me with advice, and will draw me in the wake of your glory.

²⁵ Who else is there for me in heaven? And, with you, I lack nothing on earth.

²⁶ My heart and my flesh are pining away: my heart's rock, my portion, God for ever!

²⁷ Truly, those who abandon you will perish; you destroy those who adulterously desert you,

²⁸ whereas my happiness is to be near God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, to tell of all your works.

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