American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
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.
In like manner, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the {Or, manner of life verse 16}behavior of their wives;
beholding your chaste {Or, manner of life verse 16}behavior coupled with fear.
Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel;
but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
For after this manner aforetime the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own {Or, husbands (as Sarah…ye are become), doing well, and not being afraid}husbands:
as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose children ye now are, if ye do well, and are not {Or, afraid with}put in fear by any terror.
Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor {Greek: unto the female vessel, as weaker.}unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered.
Finally, be ye all likeminded, {Greek: sympathetic.}compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded:
not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for hereunto were ye called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
For, {Psalm 34:12 ff.}He that would love life,And see good days,Let him refrain his tongue from evil,And his lips that they speak no guile:
And let him turn away from evil, and do good;Let him seek peace, and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,And his ears unto their supplication:But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil.
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good?
But even if ye should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are ye: and fear not their fear, neither be troubled;
but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear:
having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ.
For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.
Because Christ also {Many ancient authorities read died.}suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,
that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, {Or, into which few, that is, eight souls were brought safely through water}wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
which also {Or, in the antitype}after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the {Or, inquiry Or, appeal}interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.