Psalm 73:13-28

English Standard Version

¹³All in vain have I ^(A)kept my heart clean
    and ^(B)washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been ^(C)stricken
    and ^(D)rebuked ^(E)every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed ^(F)the generation of your children.

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

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

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

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