Psalms 73

73 ¹ Truly our Father is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. ³ For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ For they feel no pain in dying; their bodies are healthy and sleek. ⁵ They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. ⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. ⁷ Their eyes bulge out from fatness; the imaginations of their hearts run wild. ⁸ They scoff and speak with malice; from on high they threaten oppression. ⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. ¹⁰ Therefore his people turn back to them, and drink up waters in abundance. ¹¹ And they say, "How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" ¹² Look — these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³ Surely I have kept my heart clean in vain and washed my hands in innocence. ¹⁴ For all day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, "I will speak this way," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. ¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this, it was a wearisome task in my eyes, ¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of our Father; then I understood their end. ¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. ¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! ²⁰ Like a dream when someone wakes up, O Sovereign Father, when you rouse yourself, you will despise them as phantoms.

²¹ When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, ²² I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. ²³ Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. ²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. ²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but our Father is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷ For those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. ²⁸ But for me, it is good to be near our Father; I have made the Sovereign Father my refuge, so I can tell of all your works.