1God is truly good to Israel. He is good to those who have pure hearts.2But my feet had almost slipped. I had almost tripped and fallen.3I saw that proud and sinful people were doing well. And I began to long for what they had.4They don’t have any troubles. Their bodies are healthy and strong.5They don’t have the problems most people have. They don’t suffer as other people do.6Their pride is like a necklace. They put on meanness as if it were their clothes.7Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts. There is no limit to the evil things they can think up.8They laugh at others and speak words of hatred. They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them.9They boast as if they owned heaven itself. They talk as if they controlled the earth.10So people listen to them. They lap up their words like water.11They say, ‘How would God know what we’re doing? Does the Most High God know anything?’12Here is what sinful people are like. They don’t have a care in the world. They keep getting richer and richer.13It seems as if I have kept my heart pure for no reason. It didn’t do me any good to wash my hands to show that I wasn’t guilty of doing anything wrong.14Day after day I’ve been in pain. God has punished me in a new way every morning.15What if I had talked like that? Then I wouldn’t have been faithful to God’s children.16I tried to understand it all. But it was more than I could handle.17It troubled me until I entered God’s temple. Then I understood what will finally happen to bad people.18God, I’m sure you will make them slip and fall. You will throw them down and destroy them.19It will happen very suddenly. A terrible death will take them away completely.20A dream goes away when a person wakes up. Lord, it will be like that when you rise up. It will be as if those people were only a dream.21At one time my heart was sad and my spirit was bitter.22I didn’t have any sense. I didn’t know anything. I acted like a wild animal towards you.23But I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand.24You give me wise advice to guide me. And when I die, you will take me away into the glory of heaven.25I don’t have anyone in heaven but you. I don’t want anything on earth besides you.26My body and my heart may grow weak. God, you give strength to my heart. You are everything I will ever need.27Those who don’t want anything to do with you will die. You destroy all those who aren’t faithful to you.28But I am close to you. And that’s good. LORD and King, I have made you my place of safety. I will talk about everything you have done.
Psalm 73
English Standard Version
God Is My Strength and Portion Forever
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)