Psalm 73:2-12

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.

3 ¹For I was ²envious of the arrogant when I saw the ³prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not ⁴stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is ⁵their necklace; violence covers them as ⁶a garment.

7 Their ⁷eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and ⁸speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.

10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find ⁹no fault in them. ^[a]

11 And they say, ¹⁰“How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? ”

12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they ¹¹increase in riches.

Psalm 73:2-12 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.

Cross References

• 1. 73:3 See Job 21:7
• 2. 73:3 Ps. 37:1; Prov. 23:17
• 3. 73:3 [Ps. 37:7; 92:7; Jer. 12:1]
• 4. 73:5 [Isa. 53:4]
• 5. 73:6 [Judg. 8:26]
• 6. 73:6 [Ps. 109:18]
• 7. 73:7 See Job 15:27
• 8. 73:8 [2 Pet. 2:18; Jude 16]
• 9. 73:10 [Job 15:16]
• 10. 73:11 See Job 22:13
• 11. 73:12 [ver. 3]

Footnotes

• [a] 73:10 Probable reading; Hebrew 'the waters of a full cup are drained by them'