Book Three
God Is My Strength and Portion Forever
A Psalm of (A)Asaph.
73 Truly God is good to (B)Israel,
to those who are (C)pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 (D)For I was (E)envious of the arrogant
when I saw the (F)prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not (G)stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is (H)their necklace;
violence covers them as (I)a garment.
7 Their (J)eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and (K)speak with malice;
loftily 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 find (L)no fault in them.[a]
11 And they say, (M)“How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they (N)increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I (O)kept my heart clean
and (P)washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been (Q)stricken
and (R)rebuked (S)every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed (T)the generation of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me (U)a wearisome task,
17 until I went into (V)the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their (W)end.
18 Truly you set them in (X)slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed (Y)in a moment,
swept away utterly by (Z)terrors!
20 Like (AA)a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when (AB)you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was (AC)brutish and ignorant;
I was like (AD)a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you (AE)hold my right hand.
24 You (AF)guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will (AG)receive me to glory.
25 (AH)Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 (AI)My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is (AJ)the strength[b] of my heart and my (AK)portion (AL)forever.
27 For behold, those who are (AM)far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is (AN)unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to (AO)be near God;
I have made the Lord God my (AP)refuge,
that I may (AQ)tell of all your works.
Footnotes
- Psalm 73:10 Probable reading; Hebrew the waters of a full cup are drained by them
- Psalm 73:26 Hebrew rock
Cross references
- Psalm 73:1 : See Ps. 50, title
- Psalm 73:1 : John 1:47
- Psalm 73:1 : See Ps. 24:4
- Psalm 73:3 : See Job 21:7
- Psalm 73:3 : Ps. 37:1; Prov. 23:17
- Psalm 73:3 : [Ps. 37:7; 92:7; Jer. 12:1]
- Psalm 73:5 : [Isa. 53:4]
- Psalm 73:6 : [Judg. 8:26]
- Psalm 73:6 : [Ps. 109:18]
- Psalm 73:7 : See Job 15:27
- Psalm 73:8 : [2 Pet. 2:18; Jude 16]
- Psalm 73:10 : [Job 15:16]
- Psalm 73:11 : See Job 22:13
- Psalm 73:12 : [ver. 3]
- Psalm 73:13 : [ver. 1]; See Job 34:9
- Psalm 73:13 : See Ps. 26:6
- Psalm 73:14 : [See ver. 5 above]; [Isa. 53:4]
- Psalm 73:14 : Rev. 3:19
- Psalm 73:14 : [Ps. 101:8]
- Psalm 73:15 : [Ps. 14:5]
- Psalm 73:16 : Eccles. 8:17
- Psalm 73:17 : Ps. 20:2
- Psalm 73:17 : Ps. 37:38
- Psalm 73:18 : Ps. 35:6
- Psalm 73:19 : [Num. 16:21]
- Psalm 73:19 : See Job 18:11
- Psalm 73:20 : See Job 20:8
- Psalm 73:20 : Ps. 78:65
- Psalm 73:22 : See Ps. 49:10
- Psalm 73:22 : Job 18:3; [Job 11:12]
- Psalm 73:23 : Ps. 63:8; [Ps. 41:12]
- Psalm 73:24 : Ps. 32:8
- Psalm 73:24 : See Ps. 49:15
- Psalm 73:25 : Ps. 16:2; [Phil. 3:8]
- Psalm 73:26 : Ps. 40:12; See Ps. 84:2
- Psalm 73:26 : Ps. 18:2
- Psalm 73:26 : See Ps. 16:5
- Psalm 73:26 : [Dan. 12:3]
- Psalm 73:27 : Ps. 119:155
- Psalm 73:27 : Ps. 106:39; Ex. 34:15; Num. 15:39; James 4:4
- Psalm 73:28 : James 4:8; [Heb. 10:22]
- Psalm 73:28 : See Ps. 14:6
- Psalm 73:28 : See Ps. 118:17