Psalms 73
Truly God is good to the upright,
to those who are pure in heart.[a]
2 ^But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 ^For I was envious of the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 ^For they have no pangs;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5 ^They are not in trouble as other men are;
they are not stricken like other men.
6 ^Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 ^Their eyes swell out with fatness,
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 ^They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 ^They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 ^Therefore the people turn and praise them;[b]
and find no fault in them.[c]
11 ^And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 ^Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 ^All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 ^For all the day long I have been stricken,
and chastened every morning.
15 ^If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have been untrue to the generation of thy children.
16 ^But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 ^until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.
18 ^Truly thou dost set them in slippery places;
thou dost make them fall to ruin.
19 ^How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 ^They are[d] like a dream when one awakes,
on awaking you despise their phantoms.
21 ^When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 ^I was stupid and ignorant,
I was like a beast toward thee.
23 ^Nevertheless I am continually with thee;
thou dost hold my right hand.
24 ^Thou dost guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward thou wilt receive me to glory.[e]
25 ^Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 ^My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[f] of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 ^For lo, those who are far from thee shall perish;
thou dost put an end to those who are false to thee.
28 ^But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all thy works.