- 1
- A Psalm of Asaph.
Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart.
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- But as for me, my feet were almost gone;
my steps had well nigh slipped.
- 3
- For I was envious at the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
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- For there are no pangs at their death, and their body is sound.
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- In the trouble of man they are not;
neither are they plagued like men.
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- Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;
violence covereth them as a garment.
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- Their eyes stand forth from fatness;
they are gone beyond the imaginations of their heart.
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- They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression;
they speak as if there were none on high.
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- They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
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- Therefore His people return hither;
and waters of fullness are drained out by them.
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- And they say: "How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?"
- 12
- Behold, such are the wicked;
and they that are always at ease increase riches.
- 13
- Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency;
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- For all the day have I been plagued, and my chastisement came every morning.
- 15
- If I had said: "I will speak thus", behold, I had been faithless to the generation of Thy children.
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- And when I pondered how I might know this, it was wearisome in mine eyes;
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- Until I entered into the sanctuary of God, and considered their end.
- 18
- Surely Thou settest them in slippery places;
Thou hurlest them down to utter ruin.
- 19
- How are they become a desolation in a moment!
They are wholly consumed by terrors.
- 20
- As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou arousest Thyself, Thou wilt despise their semblance.
- 21
- For my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins.
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- But I was brutish, and ignorant;
I was as a beast before Thee.
- 23
- Nevertheless I am continually with Thee;
Thou holdest my right hand.
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- Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me with glory.
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- Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And beside Thee I desire none upon earth.
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- My flesh and my heart faileth;
but God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.
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- For, lo, they that go far from Thee shall perish;
Thou dost destroy all them that go astray from Thee.
- 28
- But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works.
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