Psalm 73 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
1 A psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose minds are pure.
1 A Psalm by Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But I was stumbling, my feet were starting to slide,
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.
3 because I was jealous of self-important people—I saw how well the wicked were doing.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They don't ever seem to get sick; they are strong and healthy.
4 For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.
5 They don't have problems like other people; they don't get hit by disasters like everybody else.
5 They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.
6 They wear their pride like a necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
6 Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes bulge out because they're so fat; their minds are full of selfish vanity.
7 Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
8 They mock people, and speak maliciously; they arrogantly threaten cruelty.
8 They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
9 They talk irreverently against heaven above, and defame people here on earth.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
10 As a result people turn to them and drink in everything they say.
10 Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.
11 “God won't find out,” they say. “The Most High doesn't even know what's going on!”
11 They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Look at these wicked people! They don't have a care in the world, and they're always making money!
12 Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 It's been pointless to keep my mind pure and my hands clean.
13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
14 I'm cursed with suffering all day long; every morning I'm punished.
14 For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.
15 If I'd talked like this to others, I would have betrayed your people.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 So I thought about it and tried to understand, but it looked like a lot of hard work to me—
16 When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me—
17 until I went into God's Temple. Then I understood what happens to the wicked in the end.
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.
18 For you send them on a slippery path; you throw them down to destruction.
18 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
19 How quickly they're destroyed! They come to a terrifying end.
19 How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
20 Like waking up from a dream, Lord—when you get up you will forget all about them!
20 As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
21 At that time my thoughts were bitter. I felt like I had been stabbed.
21 For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
22 I was stupid and ignorant. I was like a brute beast to you.
22 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I'm always with you; you hold me by the hand.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
24 You tell me what to do; and ultimately you will welcome me in glory.
24 You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Who is there in heaven for me except you? And I want nothing on earth except you.
25 Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
26 My body and my mind may fail, but God is the foundation of my life. He is mine forever!
26 My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 Those people who are far from God will die. You destroy all those unfaithful to you.
27 For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
28 But I love to stay close to God! I have chosen the Lord God to protect me. I will share all that you have done.
28 But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
Cross references (28)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Matthew 5:8; Psalm 51:10; Psalm 84:11; Luke 12:32; James 4:8
- 2 Psalm 94:18; 1 Samuel 2:9; Psalm 116:8; Psalm 38:16; Psalm 17:5
- 3 Job 21:7; Jeremiah 12:1; Psalm 37:7; Proverbs 23:17; Psalm 37:1
- 4 Job 21:23–24; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Luke 16:22; Ecclesiastes 7:15; Psalm 17:14
- 5 Psalm 73:12; Job 21:9; Revelation 3:19; Jeremiah 12:1–2; Job 21:6
- 6 Psalm 109:18; 1 Peter 5:5; Daniel 4:30; Proverbs 1:9; Judges 8:26
- 7 Job 15:27; Jeremiah 5:28; Psalm 17:10; Psalm 73:12; 1 Samuel 25:36
- 8 Jude 16; Psalm 17:10; Psalm 10:2; 2 Peter 2:18; Proverbs 30:13–14
- 9 Revelation 13:6; James 3:6; Exodus 5:2; Daniel 7:25; 2 Chronicles 32:15
- 10 Psalm 75:8
- 11 Hosea 7:2; Zephaniah 1:12; Psalm 94:7; Psalm 139:1–6; Psalm 44:21
- 12 Psalm 52:7; Hosea 12:7–8; Jeremiah 5:28; James 5:1–3; Psalm 17:14
- 13 Psalm 26:6; Job 21:15; Job 34:9; James 4:8; Malachi 3:14
- 14 Hebrews 12:5; Psalm 94:12; Amos 3:2; Jeremiah 15:18; Job 7:3–4
- 15 Matthew 18:6–7; Romans 14:21; Psalm 24:6; Romans 14:15; Malachi 2:8
- 16 Ecclesiastes 8:17; John 16:18–19; Proverbs 30:2–3; Romans 11:33; Psalm 97:2
- 17 Psalm 77:13; Luke 12:20; Ecclesiastes 8:12–13; Psalm 27:4; Psalm 63:2
- 18 Jeremiah 23:12; Psalm 35:6; Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalm 55:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:9
- 19 Isaiah 47:11; Proverbs 28:1; Daniel 5:6; Revelation 18:10; Job 20:5
- 20 Job 20:8; Psalm 78:65; Psalm 90:5; Psalm 39:6; Isaiah 29:7–8
- 21 Psalm 73:3; Psalm 37:7; Lamentations 3:13; Job 16:13; Psalm 37:1
- 22 Ecclesiastes 3:18; Psalm 92:6; Isaiah 1:3; Psalm 49:10; Psalm 32:9
- 23 Isaiah 41:13; Psalm 63:8; Matthew 28:20; Psalm 16:8; Hebrews 13:5
- 24 Psalm 32:8; Isaiah 58:11; Proverbs 3:5–6; Isaiah 48:17; Psalm 48:14
- 25 Philippians 3:8; Psalm 16:2; Psalm 63:3; Psalm 16:5; Isaiah 26:8–9
- 26 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Isaiah 40:29–31; Psalm 138:3; Psalm 18:2; 2 Corinthians 4:8–10
- 27 James 4:4; Psalm 119:155; Exodus 34:15; Numbers 15:39; Psalm 106:39
- 28 James 4:8; Psalm 40:5; Hebrews 10:19–22; Lamentations 3:25–26; Psalm 65:4
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
indeed this Psalm's title is fore-noted: but things are spoken of therein which could not apply to that Salomon king of Israel after the flesh, according to those things which holy Scripture speaketh concerning him: but they can most pertinently apply to the Lord Christ.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
But whither ascend ye, when ye are on high, and set your mouth against the heavens? Descend that ye may ascend, and ascend to God.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… and since works of mercy have no other object than the relief of distress or the conferring of happiness, and since there is no happiness apart from that good of which it is said, "It is good for me to be very near to God," it follows that the whole redeemed city, that is to say, the congregation or community …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto them." And that not only of men, but primarily and principally of angels it is true, as it is written, "It is good to draw near to God." And those who have this good in common, have, both with Him to whom they …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)