ACV - Psalms - 73

73:1  Surely God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart.

73:2  But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped.

73:3  For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

73:4  For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm.

73:5  They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men.

73:6  Therefore pride is as a chain around their neck. Violence covers them as a garment.

73:7  Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish.

73:8  They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression. They speak loftily.

73:9  They have set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth.

73:10  Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them.

73:11  And they say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?

73:12  Behold, these are the wicked, and those who always prosper. They have possessed wealth.

73:13  Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence,

73:14  for all the day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning.

73:15  If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have dealt treacherously with the generation of thy sons.

73:16  When I thought how I might understand this, it was too painful for me,

73:17  until I went into the sanctuary of God, and considered their latter end.

73:18  Surely thou set them in slippery places. Thou cast them down to destruction.

73:19  How they have become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.

73:20  As a dream from awakening, O Lord, when thou waken, thou will despise their form.

73:21  For my soul was grieved, and I was pricked in my heart.

73:22  So I was brutish, and ignorant. I was a beast before thee.

73:23  Nevertheless I am continually with thee. Thou have held my right hand.

73:24  Thou will guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

73:25  Whom have I in heaven? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.

73:26  My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

73:27  For, lo, those who are far from thee shall perish. Thou have destroyed all those who go a whoring from thee.

73:28  But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have made the lord Jehovah my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works.