BOOK3
Psalm 73
The End of the Wicked Contrasted
with That of the Righteous.
Psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart!
2 But as for me, my feet came close
to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pains in their death,
And their body is fat.
5 They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
The garment of violence covers them.
7 Their eye bulges from fatness;
The imaginations of their heart run riot.
8 They mock and wickedly speak of
oppression;
They speak from on high.
9 They have set their mouth against the
heavens,
And their tongue parades through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of abundance are drunk by them.
11 They say, "How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?"
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
And always at ease, they have increased
in wealth.
13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
And washed my hands in innocence;
14 For I have been stricken all day long
And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
Behold, I would have betrayed the
generation of Your children.
16 When I pondered to understand this,
It was troublesome in my sight
17 Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end.
18 Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by sudden
terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when aroused,
You will despise their form.
21 When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,
22 Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
24 With Your counsel You will guide me,
And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing
on earth.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For, behold, those who are far from
You will perish; You have destroyed all
those who are unfaithful to You.
28 But as for me, the nearness of God
is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.
Psalm 74
An Appeal against the Devastation
of the Land by the Enemy.
Maskil of Asaph.
1 O God, why have You rejected us
forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against
the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which
You have purchased of old,
Which You have redeemed to be the
tribe of Your inheritance;
And this Mount Zion, where You
have dwelt.
3 Turn Your footsteps toward the
perpetual ruins;
The enemy has damaged everything
within the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have roared in the
midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their own standards
for signs.
5 It seems as if one had lifted up His
axe in a forest of trees.
6 And now all its carved work
They smash with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to
the ground;
They have defiled the dwelling place
of Your name.
8 They said in their heart, "Let us
completely subdue them."
They have burned all the meeting
places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
There is no longer any prophet,
Nor is there any among us who knows
how long.
10 How long, O God, will the adversary
revile,
And the enemy spurn Your name forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, even
Your right hand?
From within Your bosom, destroy them!
12 Yet God is my king from of old,
Who works deeds of deliverance in the midst
of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters
in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
You gave him as food for the creatures of
the wilderness.
15 You broke open springs and torrents;
You dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have established all the boundaries
of the earth;
You have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O LORD, that the enemy
has reviled,
And a foolish people has spurned Your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of Your turtledove
to the wild beast;
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider the covenant;
For the dark places of the land are full of the
habitations of violence.
21 Let not the oppressed return dishonored;
Let the afflicted and needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, and plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish man reproaches
You all day long.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries,
The uproar of those who rise against You
which ascends continually.