Psalm 73
Literal Standard Version
Chapter overview
Psalm 73 honestly confronts envy when arrogant people appear prosperous and untouched by trouble. The worshiper's footing nearly fails until sanctuary perspective reveals their fragile end and renews confidence that God's presence is the lasting portion.
EnvyPerspectiveSanctuaryPresence
1A PSALM OF ASAPH. Surely God [is] good to Israel, to the clean of heart. And I—as a little thing, || My feet have been turned aside,
2As nothing, my steps have slipped, || For I have been envious of the boastful,
3I see the peace of the wicked, || That there are no bands at their death,
4And their might [is] firm.
5They are not in the misery of mortals, || And they are not plagued with common men.
6Therefore pride has encircled them, || Violence covers them as a dress.
7Their eye has come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;
8They do corruptly, || And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, || They speak from on high.
9They have set their mouth in the heavens, || And their tongue walks in the earth.
10Therefore His people return here, || And waters of fullness are wrung out to them.
11And they have said, “How has God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12Behold, these [are] the wicked and easy ones of the age, || They have increased strength.
13Only—a vain thing! I have purified my heart, || And I wash my hands in innocence,
14And I am plagued all the day, || And my reproof—every morning.
15If I have said, “I recount thus,” || Behold, I have deceived a generation of Your sons.
16And I think to know this, || It [is] perverseness in my eyes,
17Until I come into the sanctuaries of God, || I attend to their latter end.
18Surely You set them in slippery places, || You have caused them to fall to desolations.
19How they have become a desolation as in a moment, || They have been ended—consumed from terrors.
20As a dream from awakening, O Lord, || In awaking, You despise their image.
21For my heart shows itself violent, || And my reins prick themselves,
22And I am brutish, and do not know. I have been a beast with You.
23And I [am] continually with You, || You have laid hold on my right hand.
24You lead me with Your counsel, || And after, receive me [to] glory.
25Whom do I have in the heavens? And none have I desired in earth [besides] You.
26My flesh and my heart have been consumed, || God [is] the rock of my heart and my portion for all time.
27For behold, those far from You perish, || You have cut off everyone, || Who is going whoring from You.
28And [the] nearness of God to me [is] good, || I have placed my refuge in Lord YHWH, || To recount all Your works!
Verses to memorize from Psalm 73
- Psalm 73:23And I [am] continually with You, || You have laid hold on my right hand.
- Psalm 73:24You lead me with Your counsel, || And after, receive me [to] glory.
- Psalm 73:26My flesh and my heart have been consumed, || God [is] the rock of my…
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