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Psalms · JPS Tanakh (1917)

Psalm 73 JPS Tanakh (1917)

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About JPS
  • Jewish
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1917
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (2)
JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 BOOK III A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart.
1 A Psalm by Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious at the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs at their death, and their body is sound.
4 For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.
5 In the trouble of man they are not; neither are they plagued like men.
5 They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; violence covereth them as a garment.
6 Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes stand forth from fatness; they are gone beyond the imaginations of their heart.
7 Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.
8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression; they speak as if there were none on high.
8 They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression.
9 They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
10 Therefore His people return hither; and waters of fullness are drained out by them.
10 Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance.
11 And they say: 'How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'
11 They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, such are the wicked; and they that are always at ease increase riches.
12 Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency;
13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
14 For all the day have I been plagued, and my chastisement came every morning.
14 For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning.
15 If I had said: 'I will speak thus', behold, I had been faithless to the generation of Thy children.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus”, behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16 And when I pondered how I might know this, it was wearisome in mine eyes;
16 When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me—
17 Until I entered into the sanctuary of God, and considered their end.
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end.
18 Surely Thou settest them in slippery places; Thou hurlest them down to utter ruin.
18 Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.
19 How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are wholly consumed by terrors.
19 How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou arousest Thyself, Thou wilt despise their semblance.
20 As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
21 For my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins.
21 For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
22 But I was brutish, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee.
22 I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou holdest my right hand.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
24 Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me with glory.
24 You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And beside Thee I desire none upon earth.
25 Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.
26 My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For, lo, they that go far from Thee shall perish; Thou dost destroy all them that go astray from Thee.
27 For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works.
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. 1 Matthew 5:8; Psalm 51:10; Psalm 84:11; Luke 12:32; James 4:8
  2. 2 Psalm 94:18; 1 Samuel 2:9; Psalm 116:8; Psalm 38:16; Psalm 17:5
  3. 3 Job 21:7; Jeremiah 12:1; Psalm 37:7; Proverbs 23:17; Psalm 37:1
  4. 4 Job 21:23–24; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Luke 16:22; Ecclesiastes 7:15; Psalm 17:14
  5. 5 Psalm 73:12; Job 21:9; Revelation 3:19; Jeremiah 12:1–2; Job 21:6
  6. 6 Psalm 109:18; 1 Peter 5:5; Daniel 4:30; Proverbs 1:9; Judges 8:26
  7. 7 Job 15:27; Jeremiah 5:28; Psalm 17:10; Psalm 73:12; 1 Samuel 25:36
  8. 8 Jude 16; Psalm 17:10; Psalm 10:2; 2 Peter 2:18; Proverbs 30:13–14
  9. 9 Revelation 13:6; James 3:6; Exodus 5:2; Daniel 7:25; 2 Chronicles 32:15
  10. 10 Psalm 75:8
  11. 11 Hosea 7:2; Zephaniah 1:12; Psalm 94:7; Psalm 139:1–6; Psalm 44:21
  12. 12 Psalm 52:7; Hosea 12:7–8; Jeremiah 5:28; James 5:1–3; Psalm 17:14
  13. 13 Psalm 26:6; Job 21:15; Job 34:9; James 4:8; Malachi 3:14
  14. 14 Hebrews 12:5; Psalm 94:12; Amos 3:2; Jeremiah 15:18; Job 7:3–4
  15. 15 Matthew 18:6–7; Romans 14:21; Psalm 24:6; Romans 14:15; Malachi 2:8
  16. 16 Ecclesiastes 8:17; John 16:18–19; Proverbs 30:2–3; Romans 11:33; Psalm 97:2
  17. 17 Psalm 77:13; Luke 12:20; Ecclesiastes 8:12–13; Psalm 27:4; Psalm 63:2
  18. 18 Jeremiah 23:12; Psalm 35:6; Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalm 55:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:9
  19. 19 Isaiah 47:11; Proverbs 28:1; Daniel 5:6; Revelation 18:10; Job 20:5
  20. 20 Job 20:8; Psalm 78:65; Psalm 90:5; Psalm 39:6; Isaiah 29:7–8
  21. 21 Psalm 73:3; Psalm 37:7; Lamentations 3:13; Job 16:13; Psalm 37:1
  22. 22 Ecclesiastes 3:18; Psalm 92:6; Isaiah 1:3; Psalm 49:10; Psalm 32:9
  23. 23 Isaiah 41:13; Psalm 63:8; Matthew 28:20; Psalm 16:8; Hebrews 13:5
  24. 24 Psalm 32:8; Isaiah 58:11; Proverbs 3:5–6; Isaiah 48:17; Psalm 48:14
  25. 25 Philippians 3:8; Psalm 16:2; Psalm 63:3; Psalm 16:5; Isaiah 26:8–9
  26. 26 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Isaiah 40:29–31; Psalm 138:3; Psalm 18:2; 2 Corinthians 4:8–10
  27. 27 James 4:4; Psalm 119:155; Exodus 34:15; Numbers 15:39; Psalm 106:39
  28. 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).

  1. Commentary Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Psalm LXXII)

    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)

  2. Quotes verse 73:9 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book IV, Chapters VIII–XII)

    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)

  3. Quotes verse 73:28 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book X, Chapters 4–6)

    … 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)

  4. Quotes verse 73:28 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XII, Chapters 7–9)

    … 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)