American King James Version - AKJV - 1999
Psalm 73
1
Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
2
But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well near slipped.
3
For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4
For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
5
They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
6
Therefore pride compasses them about as a chain; violence covers them as a garment.
7
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8
They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
9
They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth.
10
Therefore his people return here: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11
And they say, How does God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12
Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13
Truly I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence.
14
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15
If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of your children.
16
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
18
Surely you did set them in slippery places: you cast them down into destruction.
19
How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20
As a dream when one wakes; so, O Lord, when you wake, you shall despise their image.
21
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
22
So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before you.
23
Nevertheless I am continually with you: you have held me by my right hand.
24
You shall guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none on earth that I desire beside you.
26
My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27
For, see, they that are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you.
28
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.
Summary of Psalm 73
Psalm 73 is one of the most important wisdom psalms about doubt, envy, injustice, prosperity, and the struggle to understand why wicked people sometimes appear to succeed while faithful people suffer. Traditionally associated with Asaph, the psalm begins with a confident statement that God is good to His people but quickly reveals that the psalmist has personally struggled to believe this because his observations of the world seem to contradict what he knows about God's justice.
The psalmist openly admits that he almost lost his footing spiritually. His crisis begins when he looks at arrogant and wicked people and notices that they seem healthy, wealthy, comfortable, and free from many of the problems that affect others.
Their prosperity appears to have produced greater arrogance rather than gratitude. They speak proudly, treat others with contempt, and behave as though they are accountable to no one.
The most painful part of the psalm is that their success makes the psalmist question his own faithfulness. He begins wondering whether keeping his heart pure and living according to God's ways has been worthwhile when people who ignore God seem to experience greater comfort and success.
This is a deeply honest spiritual struggle because the psalmist does not hide his envy or confusion. He recognizes that what he sees appears unfair.
However, he also understands that openly spreading these doubts could discourage other believers. He therefore wrestles privately with the problem, recognizing that his own perspective is incomplete.
The decisive turning point comes when he enters the sanctuary of God. There, his understanding changes. He begins to see that the prosperity of the wicked is not necessarily permanent and that apparent security can actually be extremely fragile.
The image of slippery ground becomes central. The wicked may appear stable, but their position can change suddenly.
Their success is compared to a dream that disappears when someone wakes. What looked permanent turns out to have been temporary.
The psalmist then turns the criticism inward. He recognizes that his heart had become bitter and that his thinking had been affected by envy and incomplete understanding.
Yet the chapter does not end with self-condemnation. Instead, it moves toward one of the strongest declarations of dependence in the Psalms.
Even when his body and heart fail, God remains his strength and portion forever.
This is the central resolution of the chapter. The psalmist no longer measures God's goodness by comparing his circumstances with those of wealthy or successful people.
He has learned to value God's presence above material prosperity.
The final verse expresses the result of this transformation: being near God is good, and the psalmist now wants to tell others about God's works.
Psalm 73 ultimately presents a remarkably honest journey from spiritual confusion toward renewed confidence, because the psalmist begins with the conviction that God is good but admits that his faith almost collapsed when he compared the difficult experiences of faithful people with the apparent prosperity of arrogant and wicked people. His struggle is not caused by ignorance of God's goodness but by the painful contradiction between what he believes about God's justice and what he observes in everyday life, because the people who seem least concerned about God sometimes appear healthy, wealthy, powerful, comfortable, and free from many of the difficulties experienced by those who sincerely try to live according to God's ways. This observation produces envy, frustration, and eventually the disturbing question of whether faithfulness has been worthwhile at all.
The psalm is particularly powerful because the writer does not hide these emotions or pretend that spiritual maturity means never experiencing doubt, jealousy, confusion, or frustration. Instead, he openly admits that his feet almost slipped and that his heart became bitter when he compared his own situation with the prosperity of others. He even begins questioning whether keeping his heart pure and avoiding wrongdoing has accomplished anything meaningful, because the evidence before his eyes seems to suggest that people who reject God may experience greater success than people who remain faithful. Yet even during this crisis, the psalmist recognizes that his conclusions could harm the faith of others, showing that he understands the difference between honestly experiencing doubt and carelessly spreading conclusions that could discourage an entire community.
The decisive change occurs when the psalmist enters the sanctuary of God, because worship gives him a perspective that ordinary observation could not provide. He begins to understand that visible prosperity is not the same thing as lasting security, and that people who appear firmly established may actually be standing on slippery ground. Their wealth, influence, health, and reputation can disappear suddenly, while the apparent stability that caused the psalmist's envy proves to be temporary. The comparison with a dream is especially meaningful because a dream can feel completely real while it is happening, yet disappears immediately when a person wakes, demonstrating that earthly success can appear permanent from within human experience while being temporary from the perspective of eternity.
The psalmist then recognizes that his own bitterness had affected his judgment, and he describes his earlier thinking as foolish and uninformed. This admission does not mean that his observations about injustice were completely false, because the psalm genuinely acknowledges that wicked people can prosper for a time, but it means that he had been judging the entire story from only one portion of reality. Once he begins to consider God's final perspective, his comparison between himself and the wicked loses much of its power, because he realizes that the temporary advantages of another person cannot determine the ultimate value of his own relationship with God.
The greatest conclusion of the psalm appears when the writer declares that God is continually with him, holds his hand, guides him with His counsel, and remains his portion even when his body and heart fail. This changes the meaning of prosperity completely, because the psalmist no longer measures blessing primarily through possessions, physical comfort, social status, or freedom from trouble, but through the presence of God Himself. He can acknowledge that his physical strength may eventually disappear and that earthly circumstances may remain difficult, yet he can still possess something that cannot be taken away by changing circumstances: God's presence and faithfulness.
Psalm 73 therefore concludes with a profound transformation in perspective, because the question is no longer why the wicked sometimes appear to prosper more than the righteous, but whether anything on earth can truly compare with having God as one's strength, guide, and eternal portion. The answer of the psalmist is that nothing in heaven or on earth compares with God, and this realization allows him to move from envy toward worship, from confusion toward trust, and from private struggle toward public testimony. The final declaration that being near God is good provides the clearest conclusion to the entire chapter, because the psalmist has discovered that the greatest blessing is not necessarily an easier life, greater wealth, or freedom from hardship, but the enduring relationship with God that remains valuable when every temporary advantage eventually disappears.
The psalmist openly admits that he almost lost his footing spiritually. His crisis begins when he looks at arrogant and wicked people and notices that they seem healthy, wealthy, comfortable, and free from many of the problems that affect others.
Their prosperity appears to have produced greater arrogance rather than gratitude. They speak proudly, treat others with contempt, and behave as though they are accountable to no one.
The most painful part of the psalm is that their success makes the psalmist question his own faithfulness. He begins wondering whether keeping his heart pure and living according to God's ways has been worthwhile when people who ignore God seem to experience greater comfort and success.
This is a deeply honest spiritual struggle because the psalmist does not hide his envy or confusion. He recognizes that what he sees appears unfair.
However, he also understands that openly spreading these doubts could discourage other believers. He therefore wrestles privately with the problem, recognizing that his own perspective is incomplete.
The decisive turning point comes when he enters the sanctuary of God. There, his understanding changes. He begins to see that the prosperity of the wicked is not necessarily permanent and that apparent security can actually be extremely fragile.
The image of slippery ground becomes central. The wicked may appear stable, but their position can change suddenly.
Their success is compared to a dream that disappears when someone wakes. What looked permanent turns out to have been temporary.
The psalmist then turns the criticism inward. He recognizes that his heart had become bitter and that his thinking had been affected by envy and incomplete understanding.
Yet the chapter does not end with self-condemnation. Instead, it moves toward one of the strongest declarations of dependence in the Psalms.
Even when his body and heart fail, God remains his strength and portion forever.
This is the central resolution of the chapter. The psalmist no longer measures God's goodness by comparing his circumstances with those of wealthy or successful people.
He has learned to value God's presence above material prosperity.
The final verse expresses the result of this transformation: being near God is good, and the psalmist now wants to tell others about God's works.
Psalm 73 ultimately presents a remarkably honest journey from spiritual confusion toward renewed confidence, because the psalmist begins with the conviction that God is good but admits that his faith almost collapsed when he compared the difficult experiences of faithful people with the apparent prosperity of arrogant and wicked people. His struggle is not caused by ignorance of God's goodness but by the painful contradiction between what he believes about God's justice and what he observes in everyday life, because the people who seem least concerned about God sometimes appear healthy, wealthy, powerful, comfortable, and free from many of the difficulties experienced by those who sincerely try to live according to God's ways. This observation produces envy, frustration, and eventually the disturbing question of whether faithfulness has been worthwhile at all.
The psalm is particularly powerful because the writer does not hide these emotions or pretend that spiritual maturity means never experiencing doubt, jealousy, confusion, or frustration. Instead, he openly admits that his feet almost slipped and that his heart became bitter when he compared his own situation with the prosperity of others. He even begins questioning whether keeping his heart pure and avoiding wrongdoing has accomplished anything meaningful, because the evidence before his eyes seems to suggest that people who reject God may experience greater success than people who remain faithful. Yet even during this crisis, the psalmist recognizes that his conclusions could harm the faith of others, showing that he understands the difference between honestly experiencing doubt and carelessly spreading conclusions that could discourage an entire community.
The decisive change occurs when the psalmist enters the sanctuary of God, because worship gives him a perspective that ordinary observation could not provide. He begins to understand that visible prosperity is not the same thing as lasting security, and that people who appear firmly established may actually be standing on slippery ground. Their wealth, influence, health, and reputation can disappear suddenly, while the apparent stability that caused the psalmist's envy proves to be temporary. The comparison with a dream is especially meaningful because a dream can feel completely real while it is happening, yet disappears immediately when a person wakes, demonstrating that earthly success can appear permanent from within human experience while being temporary from the perspective of eternity.
The psalmist then recognizes that his own bitterness had affected his judgment, and he describes his earlier thinking as foolish and uninformed. This admission does not mean that his observations about injustice were completely false, because the psalm genuinely acknowledges that wicked people can prosper for a time, but it means that he had been judging the entire story from only one portion of reality. Once he begins to consider God's final perspective, his comparison between himself and the wicked loses much of its power, because he realizes that the temporary advantages of another person cannot determine the ultimate value of his own relationship with God.
The greatest conclusion of the psalm appears when the writer declares that God is continually with him, holds his hand, guides him with His counsel, and remains his portion even when his body and heart fail. This changes the meaning of prosperity completely, because the psalmist no longer measures blessing primarily through possessions, physical comfort, social status, or freedom from trouble, but through the presence of God Himself. He can acknowledge that his physical strength may eventually disappear and that earthly circumstances may remain difficult, yet he can still possess something that cannot be taken away by changing circumstances: God's presence and faithfulness.
Psalm 73 therefore concludes with a profound transformation in perspective, because the question is no longer why the wicked sometimes appear to prosper more than the righteous, but whether anything on earth can truly compare with having God as one's strength, guide, and eternal portion. The answer of the psalmist is that nothing in heaven or on earth compares with God, and this realization allows him to move from envy toward worship, from confusion toward trust, and from private struggle toward public testimony. The final declaration that being near God is good provides the clearest conclusion to the entire chapter, because the psalmist has discovered that the greatest blessing is not necessarily an easier life, greater wealth, or freedom from hardship, but the enduring relationship with God that remains valuable when every temporary advantage eventually disappears.