The Book of Psalms

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

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- Chapter 73 -

God is surely good to Israel

A Psalm of Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart.

But my feet were nearly moved; my steps had nearly slipped.

For I was zealous over the iniquitous, seeing the peacefulness of sinners.

For they have no respect for their death, nor do they have support in their wounds.

They are not with the hardships of men, nor will they be scourged with men.

Therefore, arrogance has held on to them. They have been covered with their iniquity and impiety.

Their iniquity has proceeded, as if from fat. They have parted from the affection of the heart.(a)

They have thought and spoken wickedness. They have spoken iniquity in high places.(b)

They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has traversed the earth.(c)

Therefore, my people will be converted here, and fullness of days will be found in them.(d)

And they said, “How would God know?” and, “Isn’t there knowledge in high places?”(e)

Behold, these are sinners, and, abounding in this age, they have obtained riches.

And I said: So then, it is without purpose that I have justified my heart and washed my hands among the innocent.

And I have been scourged all day long, and I have received my chastisement in the mornings.

If I were to say that I would explain this: Behold, I would condemn this nation of your sons.(f)

I considered, so that I might know this. It is a hardship before me,

until I may enter into the Sanctuary of God, and understand it to its last part.

So, because of deceitfulness, truly, you have placed it before them. While they were being lifted up, you were casting them down.(g)

How have they been brought to desolation? They have suddenly failed. They have perished because of their iniquity.

As a dream is to those who awaken, O Lord, so will you reduce their image to nothing in your city.

For my heart has been inflamed, and my temperament has been changed.

And so, I have been reduced to nothing, and I did not know it.

I have become like a beast of burden to you, and I am always with you.

You have held my right hand. And in your will, you have conducted me, and with your glory, you have taken me up.

For what is there for me in heaven? And what do I wish for on earth before you?

My body has failed, and my heart: O God of my heart, and God my portion, into eternity.

For behold, those who put themselves far from you will perish. You have perished all those who fornicate away from you.

But it is good for me to adhere to God, to put my hope in the Lord God, so that I may announce all your prophecies, at the gates of the daughter of Zion.(h)

Footnotes

(a)72:7 Fatness:Abundance and temporal prosperity, which has encouraged them in their iniquity: and made them give themselves up to their irregular affections.(Challoner)

(b)72:8 In modern terms, speaking iniquity in high places could be equated to speaking iniquity in the media.(Conte)

(d)72:10 Return here:or hither. The weak among the servants of God, will be apt often to return to this thought, and will be shocked when they consider the full days, that is, the long and prosperous life of the wicked; and will be tempted to make the reflections against providence which are set down in the following verses.(Challoner)

(e)72:11 The word ‘excelso’ here does not refer to God Most High. Rather, it refers to the ‘excelso’ of the above verse, i.e. the high places of the world, such as governments and corporations and news media organizations, etc. The word ‘si’ is not simply translated as ‘if’ or ‘whether.’(Conte)

(f)72:15 If I said, etc:That is, if I should indulge such thoughts as these.(Challoner)

(g)72:18 you have put it to them:In punishment of their deceits, or for deceiving them, you have brought evils upon them in their last end, which, in their prosperity they never apprehended.(Challoner)

(h)72:28 Or, ‘all your predictions, at the gates of daughter Zion.’(Conte)