Psalm 73 | New International Reader’s Version

New International Reader’s Version

A psalm of Asaph.

1 God is truly good to Israel. He is good to those who have pure hearts. 2 But my feet had almost slipped. I had almost tripped and fallen. 3 I saw that proud and sinful people were doing well. And I began to long for what they had. 4 They don’t have any troubles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. 5 They don’t have the problems most people have. They don’t suffer as other people do. 6 Their pride is like a necklace. They put on meanness as if it were their clothes. 7 Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts. There is no limit to the evil things they can think up. 8 They laugh at others and speak words of hatred. They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them. 9 They boast as if they owned heaven itself. They talk as if they controlled the earth. 10 So people listen to them. They lap up their words like water. 11 They say, ‘How would God know what we’re doing? Does the Most High God know anything?’ 12 Here is what sinful people are like. They don’t have a care in the world. They keep getting richer and richer. 13 It seems as if I have kept my heart pure for no reason. It didn’t do me any good to wash my hands to show that I wasn’t guilty of doing anything wrong. 14 Day after day I’ve been in pain. God has punished me in a new way every morning. 15 What if I had talked like that? Then I wouldn’t have been faithful to God’s children. 16 I tried to understand it all. But it was more than I could handle. 17 It troubled me until I entered God’s temple. Then I understood what will finally happen to bad people. 18 God, I’m sure you will make them slip and fall. You will throw them down and destroy them. 19 It will happen very suddenly. A terrible death will take them away completely. 20 A dream goes away when a person wakes up. Lord, it will be like that when you rise up. It will be as if those people were only a dream. 21 At one time my heart was sad and my spirit was bitter. 22 I didn’t have any sense. I didn’t know anything. I acted like a wild animal towards you. 23 But I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. 24 You give me wise advice to guide me. And when I die, you will take me away into the glory of heaven. 25 I don’t have anyone in heaven but you. I don’t want anything on earth besides you. 26 My body and my heart may grow weak. God, you give strength to my heart. You are everything I will ever need. 27 Those who don’t want anything to do with you will die. You destroy all those who aren’t faithful to you. 28 But I am close to you. And that’s good. LORD and King, I have made you my place of safety. I will talk about everything you have done.

English Standard Version

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. (Ps 24:4; Ps 50:1; Joh 1:47) 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Job 21:7; Ps 37:1; Ps 37:7; Ps 92:7; Pr 23:17; Jer 12:1)

Job 21:7Ps 37:1Ps 37:7Ps 92:7Pr 23:17Jer 12:1

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 stricken like the rest of mankind. (Isa 53:4) 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. (Jud 8:26; Ps 109:18) 7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. (Job 15:27) 8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. (2Pe 2:18; Jud 1:16) 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 no fault in them.^[1] (Job 15:16) 11 And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Job 22:13) 12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. (Ps 73:3) 13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. (Job 34:9; Ps 26:6; Ps 73:1) 14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. (Ps 73:5; Ps 101:8; Re 3:19) 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. (Ps 14:5) 16 But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, (Ec 8:17) 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. (Ps 20:2; Ps 37:38) 18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. (Ps 35:6) 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! (Nu 16:21; Job 18:11) 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. (Job 20:8; Ps 78:65) 21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. (Job 11:12; Job 18:3; Ps 49:10) 23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. (Ps 41:12; Ps 63:8) 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. (Ps 32:8; Ps 49:15) 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. (Ps 16:2; Php 3:8) 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength^[2] of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps 16:5; Ps 18:2; Ps 40:12; Ps 84:2; Da 12:3)

Ps 16:5Ps 18:2Ps 40:12Ps 84:2Da 12:3

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. (Ex 34:15; Nu 15:39; Ps 106:39; Ps 119:155; Jas 4:4)

Ex 34:15Nu 15:39Ps 106:39Ps 119:155Jas 4:4

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. (Ps 14:6; Ps 118:17; Heb 10:22; Jas 4:8)

Ps 14:6Ps 118:17Heb 10:22Jas 4:8