Psalm 73

¹Surely God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone.

My steps had nearly slipped.

³For I was envious of the arrogant,

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For there are no struggles in their death,

but their strength is firm.

⁵They are free from burdens of men,

neither are they plagued like other men.

⁶Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck.

Violence covers them like a garment.

⁷Their eyes bulge with fat.

Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

⁸They scoff and speak with malice.

In arrogance, they threaten oppression.

⁹They have set their mouth in the heavens.

Their tongue walks through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore their people return to them,

and they drink up waters of abundance.

¹¹They say, “How does God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked.

Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,

and washed my hands in innocence,

¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued,

and punished every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus”,

behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶When I tried to understand this,

it was too painful for me—

¹⁷until I entered God’s sanctuary,

and considered their latter end.

¹⁸Surely you set them in slippery places.

You throw them down to destruction.

¹⁹How they are suddenly destroyed!

They are completely swept away with terrors.

²⁰As a dream when one wakes up,

so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.

²¹For my soul was grieved.

I was embittered in my heart.

²²I was so senseless and ignorant.

I was a brute beast before you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you.

You have held my right hand.

²⁴You will guide me with your counsel,

and afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom do I have in heaven?

There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.

²⁶My flesh and my heart fails,

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

²⁷For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish.

You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸But it is good for me to come close to God.

I have made the Lord the LORD my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.