BOOK III

(Psalms 73-89)

Psalm 73

Plea for Relief from Oppressors

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹Truly God is good to the upright,^*
   to those who are pure in heart.
²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
   my steps had nearly slipped.
³For I was envious of the arrogant;
   I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pain;
   their bodies are sound and sleek.
⁵They are not in trouble as others are;
   they are not plagued like other people.
⁶Therefore pride is their necklace;
   violence covers them like a garment.
⁷Their eyes swell out with fatness;
   their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸They scoff and speak with malice;
   loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹They set their mouths against heaven,
   and their tongues range over the earth.

¹⁰Therefore the people turn and praise them,^*
   and find no fault in them.^*
11And they say, ‘How can God know?
   Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
¹²Such are the wicked;
   always at ease, they increase in riches.
¹³All in vain I have kept my heart clean
   and washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued,
   and am punished every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,
   I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
   it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God;
   then I perceived their end.
¹⁸Truly you set them in slippery places;
   you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹How they are destroyed in a moment,
   swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰They are^* like a dream when one awakes;
   on awaking you despise their phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered,
   when I was pricked in heart,
²²I was stupid and ignorant;
   I was like a brute beast towards you.
²³Nevertheless I am continually with you;
   you hold my right hand.
²⁴You guide me with your counsel,
   and afterwards you will receive me with honour.^*
25Whom have I in heaven but you?
   And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail,
   but God is the strength^* of my heart and my portion for ever.

²⁷Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
   you put an end to those who are false to you.
²⁸But for me it is good to be near God;
   I have made the Lord God my refuge,
   to tell of all your works.