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 73,15 Ps 73,15
Nay, my sons; for it is no good report {Or, which I hear Jehovah's people do spread abroad}that I hear: ye make Jehovah's people to transgress.
A seed shall serve him;It shall be {Or, counted unto the Lord for his generations}told of the Lord unto the next generation.
But ye are turned aside out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble in the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.
This is the generation of them that seek after him,That seek thy face, even Jacob. [Selah
but whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that {Greek: a millstone turned by an ass.}a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! for it must needs be that the occasions come; but woe to that man through whom the occasion cometh!
For if because of meat thy brother is grieved, thou walkest no longer in love. Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died.
It is good not to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother stumbleth {Many ancient authorities add or is offended, or is weak.}.
For {Greek: in.}through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake Christ died.
And thus, sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin against Christ.
Wherefore, if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I cause not my brother to stumble.