¹A Psalm of Asaph.

Surely God is good to Israel

– To the pure in heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost reduced to nothing;

My steps were exhausted.

³For I was jealous of the boasters,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no concerns about their death,

Whilst their body is healthy.

⁵They are not subject to man's toiling,

Nor are they plagued in common with man.

⁶That is why pride bedecks them,

And the garment which covers them

Is their violence.

⁷Their eyes bulge from fatness;

The imaginings of their heart pass beyond all bounds.

⁸They mock,

They speak wickedly, plotting oppression;

They speak haughtily.

⁹They have set their mouth against heaven,

While their tongue traverses the earth.

¹⁰Therefore he will bring his people back here,

And water will be wrung out to them in full.

¹¹But they say,

“How does God know?”

And, “Does the Most High have any knowledge of it?”

¹²Behold, these are the wicked,

And those at ease in the age,

Who have increased in riches.

¹³Surely I cleansed my heart in vain,

When I washed my hands in innocence,

¹⁴For I was plagued all day long,

And I suffered castigation each morning.

¹⁵If I had said,

“Let me speak like that”,

I would have misled a generation of your sons.

¹⁶I pondered so as to know this matter

– It was to my sorrow in my sight –

¹⁷Until I went into the sanctuary of God

And understood their final state.

¹⁸Surely you will put them in slippery places;

You will make them fall into ruin.

¹⁹How they will become a desolation in a moment!

How they will perish and meet their end in terrors!

²⁰As in waking up from a dream, O Lord^*,

On awakening, you will despise their illusion.

²¹For my heart was embittered,

And I was pierced in my kidneys.

²²But I was an imbecile

And did not know;

I was like the beasts with you.

²³Yet I am always with you;

You have taken hold of my right hand.

²⁴You will lead me in accordance with your purpose,

And afterwards, you will receive me in glory.

²⁵Whom do I have in the heavens?

I delight just to be with you;

I have not delighted in the earth.

²⁶My flesh has come to an end,

But as for my heart,

The rock of my heart and my portion

Is God age-abidingly.

²⁷For behold, those departing from you will perish;

You have cut off

Everyone who commits whoredom against you.

²⁸But as for me,

Closeness to God is good for me.

I have put my trust in my Lord the Lord

So as to tell of all your works.