the Fourth Week of Advent
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Psalms 73
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.
English Standard Version
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.