Shared Word Translation
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no distress in their death; their bodies are healthy. They are not in trouble as other humans are; they are not stricken like the rest of humankind. Therefore pride is their necklace, and violence clothes them as a garment. Their eyes bulge with fatness; the imaginations of their hearts run wild. They mock and speak with malice; they speak arrogantly of oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them and find no fault in them. And they say, "How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" Behold, these are the wicked—always at ease, they increase in riches.
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and rebuked every morning. If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
Truly, you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise their images.
When my heart was grieved, and I was pierced within, I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before you.
Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you take me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Indeed, those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as 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.