Psalms 73

1A Psalm of Asaph. Only--good to Israel <FI>is<Fi> God, to the clean of heart. And I--as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside,

1Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture?

2As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,

2Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt.

3The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death,

3Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

4And their might <FI>is<Fi> firm.

4And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs,

5In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued.

5And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees,

6Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress.

6They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

7Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;

7They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth.

8They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak.

8They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.

9They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth.

9Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.

10Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them.

10How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

11And they have said, `How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'

11Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?

12Lo, these <FI>are<Fi> the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength.

12But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

13Only--a vain thing! I have purified my heart, And I wash in innocency my hands,

13Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters.

14And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof <FI>is<Fi> every morning.

14Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

15If I have said, `I recount thus,' Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived.

15Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

16And I think to know this, Perverseness it <FI>is<Fi> in mine eyes,

16Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.

17Till I come in to the sanctuaries of God, I attend to their latter end.

17Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.

18Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations.

18Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.

19How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended--consumed from terrors.

19Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

20As a dream from awakening, O Lord, In awaking, their image Thou despisest.

20Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

21For my heart doth show itself violent, And my reins prick themselves,

21Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.

22And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.

22Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

23And I <FI>am<Fi> continually with Thee, Thou hast laid hold on my right hand.

23Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

24With Thy counsel Thou dost lead me, And after honour dost receive me.

24(not in this translation)

25Whom have I in the heavens? And with Thee none I have desired in earth.

25(not in this translation)

26Consumed hath been my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart and my portion <FI>is<Fi> God to the age.

26(not in this translation)

27For, lo, those far from Thee do perish, Thou hast cut off every one, Who is going a whoring from Thee.

27(not in this translation)

28And I--nearness of God to me <FI>is<Fi> good, I have placed in the Lord Jehovah my refuge, To recount all Thy works!

28(not in this translation)