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A Psalm of Asaph.

¹ Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.

² But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped;

³ For I was envious at the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴ For they have no pangs in their death, and their body is well nourished;

⁵ They have not the hardships of mankind, neither are they plagued like [other] men:

⁶ Therefore pride encompasseth them as a neck-chain, violence covereth them [as] a garment;

⁷ Their eyes stand out from fatness, they exceed the imaginations of their heart:

⁸ They mock and speak wickedly of oppression, they speak loftily:

⁹ They set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore his people turn hither, and waters in fulness are wrung out to them.

¹¹ And they say, How can God know, and is there knowledge in the Most High?

¹² Behold, these are the wicked, and they prosper in the world: they heap up riches.

¹³ Truly have I purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency:

¹⁴ For all the day have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.

¹⁵ If I said, I will speak thus, behold, I should be faithless to the generation of thy children.

¹⁶ When I thought to be able to know this, it was a grievous task in mine eyes;

¹⁷ Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; [then] understood I their end.

¹⁸ Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou castest them down in ruins.

¹⁹ How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors.

²⁰ As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image.

²¹ When my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins,

²² Then I was brutish and knew nothing; I was [as] a beast with thee.

²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand;

²⁴ Thou wilt guide me by thy counsel, and after the glory, thou wilt receive me.

²⁵ Whom have I in the heavens? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee.

²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.

²⁷ For behold, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou destroyest every one that goeth a whoring from thee.

²⁸ But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah, that I may declare all thy works.