73:1 [A Psalm of Asaph.] Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 73:4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. 73:5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 73:7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. 73:8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. 73:11 And they say, "How can God know Is there knowledge in the Most High" 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. 73:15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 73:16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 73:17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. 73:18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 73:19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 73:20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. 73:21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 73:22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 73:27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 73:28 But 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.