Psalm 73

¹Truly God is good to the upright,

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;

I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pain;

their bodies are sound and sleek.

⁵They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not plagued like other people.

⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them like a garment.

⁷Their eyes swell out with fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

⁸They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

⁹They set their mouths against heaven,

and their tongues range over the earth.

¹⁰Therefore the people turn and praise them,

and find no fault in them.

¹¹And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Such are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³All in vain I have kept my heart clean

and washed my hands in innocence.

¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued,

and am punished every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”

I would have been untrue to the circle 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 perceived 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!

²⁰They are like a dream when one awakes;

on awaking you despise their phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

²²I was stupid and ignorant;

I was like a brute 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 with honor.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.

²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;

you put an end to those who are false to you.

²⁸But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

to tell of all your works.