Psalms 73:23-28

23 Yet I always stay close to you, and you hold me by the hand.

24 You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honor.

25 What else do I have in heaven but you? Since I have you, what else could I want on earth?

26 My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength; he is all I ever need.

27 Those who abandon you will certainly perish; you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you.

28 But as for me, how wonderful to be near God, to find protection with the Sovereign Lord and to proclaim all that he has done!

Psalms 73:23-28 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.