ASV - Psalms 73 to 74

BOOK3

Psalm 73

A Psalm of Asaph.

¹Surely God is good to Israel, Even to such as are pure in heart. ²But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped. ³For I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴For there are no pangs in their death; But their strength is firm. ⁵They are not in trouble as other men; Neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; Violence covereth them as a garment. ⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish. ⁸They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily. ⁹They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth. ¹⁰Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a full cup are drained by them. ¹¹And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? ¹²Behold, these are the wicked; And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches. ¹³Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocency; ¹⁴For all the day long have I been plagued, And chastened every morning. ¹⁵If I had said, I will speak thus; Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children. ¹⁶When I thought how I might know this, It was too painful for me; ¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God, And considered their latter end. ¹⁸Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction. ¹⁹How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. ²⁰As a dream when one awaketh, So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image. ²¹For my soul was grieved, And I was pricked in my heart: ²²So brutish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee. ²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee: Thou hast holden my right hand. ²⁴Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. ²⁶My flesh and my heart faileth; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. ²⁷For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee. ²⁸But it is good for me to draw near unto God: I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge, That I may tell of all thy works.

Psalm 74 Maschil of Asaph.

¹O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ²Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. ³Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary. ⁴Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly; They have set up their ensigns for signs. ⁵They seemed as men that lifted up Axes upon a thicket of trees. ⁶And now all the carved work thereof They break down with hatchet and hammers. ⁷They have set thy sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name by casting it to the ground. ⁸They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. ⁹We see not our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. ¹⁰How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? ¹¹Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them. ¹²Yet God is my King of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth. ¹³Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters. ¹⁴Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces; Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ¹⁵Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: Thou driedst up mighty rivers. ¹⁶The day is thine, the night also is thine: Thou hast prepared the light and the sun. ¹⁷Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: Thou hast made summer and winter. ¹⁸Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah, And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name. ¹⁹Oh deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast: Forget not the life of thy poor for ever. ²⁰Have respect unto the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence. ²¹Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed: Let the poor and needy praise thy name. ²²Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day. ²³Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: The tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.