Psalms 73:12-22

12 Yes, this is what the wicked are like; those free of misfortune keep increasing their wealth.
13 It's all for nothing that I've kept my heart clean and washed my hands, staying free of guilt;
14 for all day long I am plagued; my punishment comes every morning.
15 If I had said, "I will talk like them,"I would have betrayed a generation of your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this, I found it too hard for me -
17 until I went into the sanctuaries of God and grasped what their destiny would be.
18 Indeed, you place them on a slippery slope and make them fall to their ruin.
19 How suddenly they are destroyed, swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakens; Adonai, when you rouse yourself, you will despise their phantoms.
21 When I had a sour attitude and felt stung by pained emotions,
22 I was too stupid to understand; I was like a brute beast with you.

Psalms 73:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 73

\\<>\\. It seems by the title that Asaph was the penman of this psalm, as it is certain that he was a composer of psalms and hymns; see 2Ch 29:30, though it may be rendered, "a psalm for Asaph", or "unto Asaph" {a}; and might have David for its author, as some think, who, having penned it, sent it to Asaph, to be made use of by him in public service; see 1Ch 16:7, and so the Targum paraphrases it, ``a song by the hands of Asaph;'' the occasion of it was a temptation the psalmist fell into, through the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous, to think there was nothing in religion, that it was a vain and useless thing; under which he continued until he went into the house of God, and was taught better; when he acknowledged his stupidity and folly, and penned this psalm, to prevent others falling into the same snare, and to set forth the goodness of God to his people, with which it begins.

Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.