Dual PanelBook 3
1A psalm: for Asaph ASSUREDLY God is good to the upright, to those who are pure in heart!
2My feet had almost slipped, my foothold had all but given way,
3because boasters roused my envy when I saw how the wicked prosper.
4No painful suffering for them! They are sleek and sound in body;
5they are not in trouble like ordinary mortals, nor are they afflicted like other folk.
6Therefore they wear pride like a necklace and violence like a robe that wraps them round.
7Their eyes gleam through folds of fat, while vain fancies flit through their minds.
8Their talk is all mockery and malice; high-handedly they threaten oppression.
9Their slanders reach up to heaven, while their tongues are never still on earth.
10So the people follow their lead and find in them nothing blameworthy.
11They say, “How does God know? Does the Most High know or care?”
12Such are the wicked; unshakeably secure, they pile up wealth.
13Indeed it was all for nothing I kept my heart pure and washed my hands free from guilt!
14For all day long I suffer affliction and every morning brings new punishment.
15Had I thought to speak as they do, I should have been false to your people.
16I set my mind to understand this but I found it too hard for me,
17until I went into God's sanctuary, where I saw clearly what their destiny would be.
18Indeed you place them on slippery ground and drive them headlong into utter ruin!
19In a moment they are destroyed, disasters making an end of them,
20like a dream when one awakes, Lord, like images dismissed when one rouses from sleep!
21My mind was embittered, and I was pierced to the heart.
22I was too brutish to understand, in your sight, God, no better than a beast.
23Yet I am always with you; you hold my right hand.
24You guide me by your counsel and afterwards you will receive me with glory.
25Whom have I in heaven but you? And having you, I desire nothing else on earth.
26Though heart and body fail, yet God is the rock of my heart, my portion for ever.
27Those who are far from you will perish; you will destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28But my chief good is to be near you, God; I have chosen you, Lord GOD, to be my refuge, and I shall recount all your works.