Psalm 73:11-28

English Standard Version

¹¹And they say, ^(A)“How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹²Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they ^(B)increase in riches.
¹³All in vain have I ^(C)kept my heart clean
    and ^(D)washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been ^(E)stricken
    and ^(F)rebuked ^(G)every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed ^(H)the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me ^(I)a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into ^(J)the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their ^(K)end.

¹⁸Truly you set them in ^(L)slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹How they are destroyed ^(M)in a moment,
    swept away utterly by ^(N)terrors!
²⁰Like ^(O)a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when ^(P)you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
²²I was ^(Q)brutish and ignorant;
    I was like ^(R)a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you ^(S)hold my right hand.
²⁴You ^(T)guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will ^(U)receive me to glory.
²⁵^(V)Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶^(W)My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is ^(X)the strength^[a] of my heart and my ^(Y)portion ^(Z)forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are ^(AA)far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is ^(AB)unfaithful to you.
²⁸But for me it is good to ^(AC)be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my ^(AD)refuge,
    that I may ^(AE)tell of all your works.