The Psalms, starting at chapter 73
Psalm 73
A Psalm by Asaph.
{73:1} Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
{73:2} But as for me, my feet were almost gone.
My steps had nearly slipped.
{73:3} For I was envious of the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
{73:4} For there are no struggles in their death,
but their strength is firm.
{73:5} They are free from burdens of men,
neither are they plagued like other men.
{73:6} Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck.
Violence covers them like a garment.
{73:7} Their eyes bulge with fat.
Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
{73:8} They scoff and speak with malice.
In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
{73:9} They have set their mouth in the heavens.
Their tongue walks through the earth.
{73:10} Therefore their people return to them,
and they drink up waters of abundance.
{73:11} They say, "How does God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
{73:12} Behold, these are the wicked.
Being always at ease, they increase in riches.
{73:13} Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart,
and washed my hands in innocence,
{73:14} For all day long have I been plagued,
and punished every morning.
{73:15} If I had said, "I will speak thus;"
behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
{73:16} When I tried to understand this,
it was too painful for me;
{73:17} Until I entered God's sanctuary,
and considered their latter end.
{73:18} Surely you set them in slippery places.
You throw them down to destruction.
{73:19} How they are suddenly destroyed!
They are completely swept away with terrors.
{73:20} As a dream when one wakes up,
so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
{73:21} For my soul was grieved.
I was embittered in my heart.
{73:22} I was so senseless and ignorant.
I was a brute beast before you.
{73:23} Nevertheless, I am continually with you.
You have held my right hand.
{73:24} You will guide me with your counsel,
and afterward receive me to glory.
{73:25} Who do I have in heaven?
There is no one on earth who I desire besides you.
{73:26} My flesh and my heart fails,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
{73:27} For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish.
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
{73:28} But it is good for me to come close to God.
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
Psalm 74
A contemplation by Asaph.
{74:1} God, why have you rejected us forever?
Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
{74:2} Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance;
Mount Zion, in which you have lived.
{74:3} Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,
all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
{74:4} Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly.
They have set up their standards as signs.
{74:5} They behaved like men wielding axes,
cutting through a thicket of trees.
{74:6} Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and
hammers.
{74:7} They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.
They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.
{74:8} They said in their heart, "We will crush them completely."
They have burned up all the places in the land where God was
worshiped.
{74:9} We see no miraculous signs.
There is no longer any prophet,
neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.
{74:10} How long, God, shall the adversary reproach?
Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
{74:11} Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it out of your pocket and consume them!
{74:12} Yet God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
{74:13} You divided the sea by your strength.
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
{74:14} You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.
You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
{74:15} You opened up spring and stream.
You dried up mighty rivers.
{74:16} The day is yours, the night is also yours.
You have prepared the light and the sun.
{74:17} You have set all the boundaries of the earth.
You have made summer and winter.
{74:18} Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, LORD.
Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
{74:19} Don't deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts.
Don't forget the life of your poor forever.
{74:20} Honor your covenant,
for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.
{74:21} Don't let the oppressed return ashamed.
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
{74:22} Arise, God! Plead your own cause.
Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
{74:23} Don't forget the voice of your adversaries.
The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.
Psalm 75
For the Chief Musician. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A Psalm by
Asaph. A song.
{75:1} We give thanks to you, God.
We give thanks, for your Name is near.
Men tell about your wondrous works.
{75:2} When I choose the appointed time,
I will judge blamelessly.
{75:3} The earth and all its inhabitants quake.
I firmly hold its pillars.
Selah.
{75:4} I said to the arrogant, "Don't boast!"
I said to the wicked, "Don't lift up the horn.
{75:5} Don't lift up your horn on high.
Don't speak with a stiff neck."
{75:6} For neither from the east, nor from the west,
nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.
{75:7} But God is the judge.
He puts down one, and lifts up another.
{75:8} For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup,
full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours it out.
Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.
{75:9} But I will declare this forever:
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
{75:10} I will cut off all the horns of the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
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