1A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. (Ps 24:4; Ps 50:1; Joh 1:47)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. (Job 21:7; Ps 37:1; Ps 37:7; Ps 92:7; Pr 23:17; Jer 12:1)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. (Isa 53:4)6Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. (Jud 8:26; Ps 109:18)7Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. (Job 15:27)8They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. (2Pe 2:18; Jud 1:16)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.[1] (Job 15:16)11And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Job 22:13)12Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. (Ps 73:3)13All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. (Job 34:9; Ps 26:6; Ps 73:1)14For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. (Ps 73:5; Ps 101:8; Re 3:19)15If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. (Ps 14:5)16But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, (Ec 8:17)17until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Ps 20:2; Ps 37:38)18Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. (Ps 35:6)19How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! (Nu 16:21; Job 18:11)20Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. (Job 20:8; Ps 78:65)21When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,22I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. (Job 11:12; Job 18:3; Ps 49:10)23Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. (Ps 41:12; Ps 63:8)24You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. (Ps 32:8; Ps 49:15)25Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. (Ps 16:2; Php 3:8)26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength[2] of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps 16:5; Ps 18:2; Ps 40:12; Ps 84:2; Da 12:3)27For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. (Ex 34:15; Nu 15:39; Ps 106:39; Ps 119:155; Jas 4:4)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. (Ps 14:6; Ps 118:17; Heb 10:22; Jas 4:8)