Psalms
Chapter 73
1
1 A psalm of Asaph. How good God is to the upright, the Lord, to those who are clean of heart!
2
I But, as for me, I lost my balance; my feet all but slipped,
3
Because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4
For they suffer no pain; their bodies are healthy and sleek.
5
They are free of the burdens of life; they are not afflicted like others.
6
Thus pride adorns them as a necklace; violence clothes them as a robe.
7
Out of their stupidity comes sin; evil thoughts flood their hearts.
8
They scoff and spout their malice; from on high they utter threats.
9
2 They set their mouths against the heavens, their tongues roam the earth.
10
3 So my people turn to them and drink deeply of their words.
11
They say, "Does God really know?" "Does the Most High have any knowledge?"
12
Such, then, are the wicked, always carefree, increasing their wealth.
13
Is it in vain that I have kept my heart clean, washed my hands in innocence?
14
For I am afflicted day after day, chastised every morning.
15
Had I thought, "I will speak as they do," I would have betrayed your people.
16
Though I tried to understand all this, it was too difficult for me,
17
4 Till I entered the sanctuary of God and came to understand their end.
18
You set them, indeed, on a slippery road; you hurl them down to ruin.
19
How suddenly they are devastated; undone by disasters forever!
20
They are like a dream after waking, Lord, dismissed like shadows when you arise.
21
Since my heart was embittered and my soul deeply wounded,
22
I was stupid and could not understand; I was like a brute beast in your presence.
23
Yet I am always with you; you take hold of my right hand.
24
5 With your counsel you guide me, and at the end receive me with honor.
25
Whom else have I in the heavens? None beside you delights me on earth.
26
Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever.
27
But those who are far from you perish; you destroy those unfaithful to you.
28
As for me, to be near God is my good, to make the Lord GOD my refuge. I shall declare all your works in the gates of daughter Zion.
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Footnotes

1 [Psalm 73] The opening verse of this probing poem (cf Psalm 37:49) is actually the psalmist's hard-won conclusion from personal experience: God is just and good! The psalmist describes near loss of faith (Psalm 73:2-3), occasioned by observing the wicked who blasphemed God with seeming impunity (Psalm 73:4-12). Feeling abandoned despite personal righteousness, the psalmist could not bear the injustice until an experience of God's nearness in the temple made clear how deluded the wicked were. Their sudden destruction shows their impermanence (Psalm 73:13-20). The just can thus be confident, for, as the psalmist now knows, their security is from God (Psalm 73:1, 23-28).

2 [9] They set their mouths against the heavens: in an image probably derived from mythic stories of half-divine giants, the monstrous speech of the wicked is likened to enormous jaws gaping wide, devouring everything in sight.

3 [10] The Hebrew is obscure.

4 And came to understand their end: the psalmist receives a double revelation in the temple: 1) the end of the wicked comes unexpectedly (Psalm 73:18-20); 2) God is with me.

5 [24] And at the end receive me with honor: a perhaps deliberately enigmatic verse. It is understood by some commentators as reception into heavenly glory, hence the traditional translation, "receive me into glory." The Hebrew verb can indeed refer to mysterious divine elevation of a righteous person into God's domain: Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11-12; the righteous psalmist in Psalm 49:16. Personal resurrection in the Old Testament, however, is clearly attested only in the second century B.C. The verse is perhaps best left unspecified as a reference to God's nearness and protection.


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