Psalms 73

¹Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

²Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

³Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

⁴And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

⁵And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

⁶They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

⁷They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

⁸They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

⁹Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

¹⁰How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

¹¹Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?

¹²But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

¹⁴Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

¹⁵Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

¹⁶Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

¹⁷Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

¹⁸Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

¹⁹Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

²⁰Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

²¹Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

²²Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

²³Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

Psalms 73

¹Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

³For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

⁶Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

⁸They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

⁹They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

¹¹And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

¹²Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

¹³Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.

¹⁴For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

¹⁵If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.

¹⁶When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.

¹⁸Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

¹⁹How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.

²⁰As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

²¹Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

²²So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.

²⁴Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

²⁶My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

²⁷For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.

²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.