A Psalm of Asaph.
{Or, Only good is God}Surely God is good to Israel,
Even to such as are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone;
My steps had well nigh slipped.
For I was envious at the {Or, fools}arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For there are no pangs in their death;
But their strength is firm.
They are not {Hebrew: in the trouble of men.}in trouble as other men;
Neither are they plagued like other men.
Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;
Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness:
{Or, The imagination of their heart overflow}They have more than heart could wish.
They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:
They speak {Or, from on high}loftily.
They have set their mouth {Or, against}in the heavens,
And their tongue walketh through the earth.
Therefore {Another reading is, he will bring back his people.}his people return hither:
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
And they say, How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?
Behold, these are the wicked;
And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,
And washed my hands in innocency;
For all the day long have I been plagued,
And {Hebrew: my chastisement was.}chastened every morning.
If I had said, I will speak thus;
Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children.
When I thought how I might know this,
It was {Hebrew: labor in mine eyes.}too painful for me;
Until I went into the sanctuary of God,
And considered their latter end.
Surely thou settest them in slippery places:
Thou castest them down to {Hebrew: ruins.}destruction.
How are they become a desolation in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
As a dream when one awaketh,
So, O Lord, {Or, in the city}when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
For my soul was {Hebrew: was in a ferment.}grieved,
And I was pricked in my {Hebrew: reins.}heart:
So brutish {Or, am}was I, and ignorant;
I was as a beast {Hebrew: with thee.}before thee.
Nevertheless I am continually with thee:
Thou hast holden my right hand.
Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel,
And afterward receive me {Or, with}to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire {Or, with thee}besides thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth;
But God is the {Hebrew: rock.}strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish:
Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.
But it is good for me to draw near unto God:
I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,
That I may tell of all thy works.
Querverweise zu Psalm 73,6 Ps 73,6
and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
And the weight of the golden ear-rings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels' necks.
Envy thou not the man of violence,And choose none of his ways.
He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment,And it came into his inward parts like water,And like oil into his bones.
then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head,And chains about thy neck.
For they eat the bread of wickedness,And drink the wine of violence.
{Or, Mine adversaries shall be clothed…And they shall cover &c.}Let mine adversaries be clothed with dishonor,And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked:Thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek;Then he forsook God who made him,And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Thou hast {Or, given me courage}ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;Thou hast {Or, given me courage}ravished my heart with {Or, one look from thine eyes}one of thine eyes,With one chain of thy neck.
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
{Or, Likewise...elder; yea, all of you one to another. Gird yourselves with humility}Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
the pendants, and the {Or, chains}bracelets, and the mufflers;
And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not down, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
And I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war against him:
But he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you.
Then went Haman forth that day joyful and glad of heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up nor {Or, trembled before him}moved for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
Nevertheless Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife.
And Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
Wherefore do the wicked live,Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
Their seed is established with them in their sight,And their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear,Neither is the rod of God upon them.
Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
They send forth their little ones like a flock,And their children dance.
They {Hebrew: lift up the voice.}sing to the timbrel and harp,And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
They spend their days in prosperity,And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
And they say unto God, Depart from us;For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is {Or, emboldened}fully set in them to do evil.
Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed.
We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, and the haughtiness of his heart.
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the {Hebrew: heart.}midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God; —
behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from thee;
by thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou hast gotten thee {Or, power}riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures;
by thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy {Or, power}riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy {Or, power}riches; —
The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?