Psalms, 73

1. [Psalm Of Asaph] Indeed God is good to Israel, the Lord to those who are pure of heart.

2. My feet were on the point of stumbling, a little more and I had slipped,

3. envying the arrogant as I did, and seeing the prosperity of the wicked.

4. For them no such thing as pain, untroubled, their comfortable portliness;

5. exempt from the cares which are the human lot, they have no part in Adam's afflictions.

6. So pride is a necklace to them, violence the garment they wear.

7. From their fat oozes out malice, their hearts drip with cunning.

8. Cynically they advocate evil, loftily they advocate force.

9. Their mouth claims heaven for themselves, and their tongue is never still on earth.

10. That is why my people turn to them, and enjoy the waters of plenty,

11. saying, 'How can God know? What knowledge can the Most High have?'

12. That is what the wicked are like, piling up wealth without any worries.

13. Was it useless, then, to have kept my own heart clean, to have washed my hands in innocence?

14. When I was under a hail of blows all day long, and punished every morning,

15. had I said, 'I shall talk like them,' I should have betrayed your children's race.

16. So I set myself to understand this: how difficult I found it!

17. Until I went into the sanctuaries of the gods and understood what was destined to become of them.

18. You place them on a slippery slope and drive them down into chaos.

19. How sudden their hideous destruction! They are swept away, annihilated by terror!

20. Like a dream upon waking, Lord, when you awake, you dismiss their image.

21. My heart grew embittered, my affections dried up,

22. I was stupid and uncomprehending, a clumsy animal in your presence.

23. Even so, I stayed in your presence, you grasped me by the right hand;

24. you will guide me with advice, and will draw me in the wake of your glory.

25. Who else is there for me in heaven? And, with you, I lack nothing on earth.

26. My heart and my flesh are pining away: my heart's rock, my portion, God for ever!

27. Truly, those who abandon you will perish; you destroy those who adulterously desert you,

28. whereas my happiness is to be near God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, to tell of all your works.