A melody of A′saph.+

73 God is indeed good to Israel, to those clean in heart.+

 2 As for me, my feet had almost turned aside,+

My steps had nearly been made to slip.*+

 3 For I became envious of the boasters,+

[When] I would see the very peace of wicked people.+

 4 For they have no deathly pangs;+

And their paunch is fat.+

 5 They are not even in the trouble of mortal man,*+

And they are not plagued the same as other men.*+

 6 Therefore haughtiness has served as a necklace to them;+

Violence envelops them as a garment.+

 7 Their eye has bulged from fatness;+

They have exceeded the imaginations of the heart.+

 8 They scoff and speak about what is bad;+

About defrauding they speak in an elevated style.+

 9 They have put their mouth in the very heavens,+

And their tongue itself walks about in the earth.+

10 Therefore he brings his people back hither,

And the waters of what is full are drained out for them.

11 And they have said: “How has God* come to know?+

And does there exist knowledge in the Most High?”+

12 Look! These are the wicked, who are at ease indefinitely.+

They have increased [their] means of maintenance.+

13 Surely it is in vain that I have cleansed my heart+

And that I wash my hands in innocence itself.+

14 And I came to be plagued all day long,+

And my correction is every morning.+

15 If I had said: “I will tell a story like that,”

Look! against the generation of your sons

I should have acted treacherously.+

16 And I kept considering so as to know this;+

It was a trouble in my eyes,

17 Until I proceeded to come into the grand sanctuary of God.+

I wanted to discern their future.+

18 Surely on slippery ground is where you place them.+

You have made them fall to ruins.+

19 O how they have become an object of astonishment as in a moment!+

[How] they have reached their end, have been brought to their finish through sudden terrors!

20 Like a dream after awaking, O Jehovah,*+

[So] when arousing [yourself] you will despise their very image.+

21 For my heart was soured+

And in my kidneys I was sharply pained,+

22 And I was unreasoning and I could not know;+

I became as mere beasts from your standpoint.+

23 But I am constantly with you;+

You have taken hold of my right hand.+

24 With your counsel you will lead me,+

And afterward you will take me even to glory.+

25 Whom do I have in the heavens?+

And besides you I do have no other delight on the earth.+

26 My organism and my heart have failed.+

God is the rock of my heart and my share to time indefinite.+

27 For, look! the very ones keeping away from you will perish.+

You will certainly silence every one immorally leaving you.+

28 But as for me, the drawing near to God is good for me.+

In the Sovereign Lord Jehovah I have placed my refuge,+

To declare all your works.*+