Add parallel Print Page Options

善惡結局之比較

73 亞薩的詩。

神實在恩待以色列那些清心的人。
至於我,我的腳幾乎失閃,我的腳險些滑跌。
我見惡人和狂傲人享平安,就心懷不平。
他們死的時候沒有疼痛,他們的力氣卻也壯實。
他們不像別人受苦,也不像別人遭災。
所以驕傲如鏈子戴在他們的項上,強暴像衣裳遮住他們的身體。
他們的眼睛因體胖而凸出,他們所得的過於心裡所想的。
他們譏笑人,憑惡意說欺壓人的話,他們說話自高。
他們的口褻瀆上天,他們的舌毀謗全地。
10 所以神的民歸到這裡,喝盡了滿杯的苦水。
11 他們說:「神怎能曉得?至高者豈有知識呢?」
12 看哪,這就是惡人!他們既是常享安逸,財寶便加增。
13 我實在徒然潔淨了我的心,徒然洗手表明無辜!
14 因為我終日遭災難,每早晨受懲治。
15 我若說我要這樣講,這就是以奸詐待你的眾子。
16 我思索怎能明白這事,眼看實係為難,
17 等我進了神的聖所,思想他們的結局。
18 你實在把他們安在滑地,使他們掉在沉淪之中。
19 他們轉眼之間成了何等的荒涼,他們被驚恐滅盡了。
20 人睡醒了怎樣看夢,主啊,你醒了也必照樣輕看他們的影像。
21 因而我心裡發酸,肺腑被刺。
22 我這樣愚昧無知,在你面前如畜類一般。
23 然而,我常與你同在,你攙著我的右手。
24 你要以你的訓言引導我,以後必接我到榮耀裡。
25 除你以外,在天上我有誰呢?除你以外,在地上我也沒有所愛慕的。
26 我的肉體和我的心腸衰殘,但神是我心裡的力量,又是我的福分,直到永遠。
27 遠離你的必要死亡,凡離棄你行邪淫的你都滅絕了。
28 但我親近神是與我有益!我以主耶和華為我的避難所,好叫我述說你一切的作為。

Book Three

Many of the psalms in Book Three (Psalms 73–89) are attributed to Asaph. He was a Levite musician appointed by David to lead the worship that surrounded the covenant chest in the congregation tent (1 Chronicles 16:4–6). Asaph and his descendants continued this work through much of Israel’s history, specifically when Solomon dedicated the temple (2 Chronicles 5:12), when Josiah revived the worship of the Eternal One in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 35:15), and when Ezra and Nehemiah dedicated the wall around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:35).

The psalms attributed to Asaph were liturgical, that is, they were chanted or sung as a part of the regular worship of God in the temple by the priests, Levites, and perhaps other worshipers too. Whether songs of lament, requests for guidance, or pleas for mercy, these psalms were sung in the one place God would hear them best—at His temple—the nexus between heaven and earth.

Psalm 73

A song of Asaph.

Truly God is good to His people, Israel,
    to those with pure hearts.
Though I know this is true, I almost lost my footing;
    yes, my steps were on slippery ground.
You see, there was a time when I envied arrogant men
    and thought, “The wicked look pretty happy to me.”

For they seem to live carefree lives, free of suffering;
    their bodies are strong and healthy.
They don’t know trouble as we do;
    they are not plagued with problems as the rest of us are.
They’ve got pearls of pride strung around their necks;
    they clothe their bodies with violence.
They have so much more than enough.
    Their eyes bulge because they are so fat with possessions.
    They have more than their hearts could have ever imagined.
There is nothing sacred, and no one is safe.
    Vicious sarcasm drips from their lips;
    they bully and threaten to crush their enemies.
They even mock God as if He were not above;
    their arrogant tongues boast throughout the earth; they feel invincible.

10 Even God’s people turn and are carried away by them;
    they watch and listen, yet find no fault in them.
11 You will hear them say, “How can the True God possibly know anyway? He’s not even here.
    So how can the Most High have any knowledge of what happens here?
12 Let me tell you what I know about the wicked:
    they are comfortably at rest while their wealth is growing and growing.
13 Oh, let this not be me! It seems I have scrubbed my heart to keep it clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
    And for what? Nothing.
14 For all day long, I am being punished,
    each day awakening to stern chastisement.

15 If I had said to others these kinds of things about the plight of God’s good people,
    then I know I would have betrayed the next generation.
16 Trying to solve this mystery on my own exhausted me;
    I couldn’t bear to look at it any further.
17 So I took my questions to the True God,
    and in His sanctuary I realized something so chilling and final: their lives have a deadly end.
18 Because You have certainly set the wicked upon a slippery slope,
    You’ve set them up to slide to their destruction.
19 And they won’t see it coming. It will happen so fast:
    first, a flash of terror, and then desolation.
20 It is like a dream from which someone awakes.
    You will wake up, Lord, and loathe what has become of them.
21 You see, my heart overflowed with bitterness and cynicism;
    I felt as if someone stabbed me in the back.
22 But I didn’t know the truth;
    I have been acting like a stupid animal toward You.
23 But look at this: You are still holding my right hand;
    You have been all along.
24 Even though I was angry and hard-hearted, You gave me good advice;
    when it’s all over, You will receive me into Your glory.
25 For all my wanting, I don’t have anyone but You in heaven.
    There is nothing on earth that I desire other than You.
26 I admit how broken I am in body and spirit,
    but God is my strength, and He will be mine forever.

27 It will happen: whoever shuns You will be silenced forever;
    You will bring an end to all who refuse to be true to You.
28 But the closer I am to You, my God, the better because life with You is good.
    O Lord, the Eternal, You keep me safe—
    I will tell everyone what You have done.

God Is the Strength of My Heart

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel,
to the pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet almost slipped.
My steps nearly slid out from under me.
For I envied the arrogant,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pains at their death,
their body is healthy.
They have none of humanity’s trouble,
nor are they plagued like others.
Therefore, they put on pride as a necklace,
and violence wraps around them like a garment.
Their eyes bulge out from fatness.
The imaginations of their hearts run wild.
They scoff and wickedly plan evil.
From on high they threaten.
They set their mouth against heaven.
Their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore His people return here,
while they drink their fill.
11 So they say: “How does God know?
And does Elyon have knowledge?”
12 Behold, such are the wicked—
always at ease and amassing wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure,
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day I have been stricken,
my chastisement comes every morning.

15 If I had said: “I will speak thus,”
surely I would have betrayed a generation of Your children.
16 But when I tried to make sense of this,
it was troubling in my eyes—
17 until I entered the Sanctuary of God,
and perceived their end.
18 Surely You put them in slippery places.
You hurled them down to destruction.
19 How suddenly they became a ruin—
terminated, consumed by terrors.
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
thus when You arise, my Lord,
    You will despise their form.
21 When my heart was embittered
and I was pierced in my heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant.
I was like a beast before You.
23 Yet I am continually with You.
You hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with Your counsel,
and afterward You will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but You?
On earth there is none I desire besides You.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those far from You will perish.
You put an end to all who like a harlot are unfaithful to You.
28 But for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made my Lord Adonai my refuge.
So I will tell of all Your works.