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Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
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English Standard Version

Psalms 73

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Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of (a)Asaph.

1 Truly God is good to (b)Israel,
    to those who are (c)pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
3 (d)For I was (e)envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the (f)prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not (g)stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is (h)their necklace;
    violence covers them as (i)a garment.
7 Their (j)eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and (k)speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find (l)no fault in them.[a]
11 And they say, (m)"How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they (n)increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I (o)kept my heart clean
    and (p)washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been (q)stricken
    and (r)rebuked (s)every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
    I would have betrayed (t)the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me (u)a wearisome task,
17 until I went into (v)the sanctuary of God;
    then I discerned their (w)end.

18 Truly you set them in (x)slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed (y)in a moment,
    swept away utterly by (z)terrors!
20 Like (aa)a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when (ab)you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was (ac)brutish and ignorant;
    I was like (ad)a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you (ae)hold my right hand.
24 You (af)guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will (ag)receive me to glory.
25 (ah)Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 (ai)My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is (aj)the strength[b] of my heart and my (ak)portion (al)forever.

27 For behold, those who are (am)far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is (an)unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to (ao)be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my (ap)refuge,
    that I may (aq)tell of all your works.

 
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