| Chapter 73 |
1 |
A Psalm of Asaph. Only -- good to Israel is God, to the clean of heart. And I -- as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside, |
2 |
As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful, |
3 |
The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death, |
4 |
And their might is firm. |
5 |
In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued. |
6 |
Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress. |
7 |
Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed; |
8 |
They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak. |
9 |
They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth. |
10 |
Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them. |
11 |
And they have said, `How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?` |
12 |
Lo, these are the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength. |
13 |
Only -- a vain thing! I have purified my heart, And I wash in innocency my hands, |
14 |
And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof is every morning. |
15 |
If I have said, `I recount thus,` Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived. |
16 |
And I think to know this, Perverseness it is in mine eyes, |
17 |
Till I come in to the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end. |
18 |
Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations. |
19 |
How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors. |
20 |
As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, their image Thou despisest. |
21 |
For my heart doth show itself violent, And my reins prick themselves, |
22 |
And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee. |
23 |
And I am continually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand. |
24 |
With Thy counsel Thou dost lead me, And after honour dost receive me. |
25 |
Whom have I in the heavens? And with Thee none I have desired in earth. |
26 |
Consumed hath been my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart and my portion is God to the age. |
27 |
For, lo, those far from Thee do perish, Thou hast cut off every one, Who is going a whoring from Thee. |
28 |
And I -- nearness of God to me is good, I have placed in the Lord Yehovah my refuge, To recount all Thy works! |