Psalm 73:13-23

13 Surely ¹in vain I have kept my heart pure And ²washed my hands in innocence;

14 For I have been stricken ³all day long And ⁴chastened every morning.

15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," Behold, I would have betrayed the ⁵generation of Your children.

16 When I ⁶pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight

17 Until I came into the ⁷sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their ⁸end.

18 Surely You set them in ⁹slippery places; You cast them down to ¹⁰destruction.

19 How they are ¹¹destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by ¹²sudden terrors!

20 Like a ¹³dream when one awakes, O Lord, when ¹⁴aroused, You will ¹⁵despise their form.

21 When my ¹⁶heart was embittered And I was ¹⁷pierced within,

22 Then I was ¹⁸senseless and ignorant *; I was like a ¹⁹beast before You.

23 Nevertheless ²⁰I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.

Psalm 73:13-23 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. Job 21:15; Job 34:9; Job 35:3
• 2. Psalms 26:6
• 3. Psalms 38:6
• 4. Job 33:19; Psalms 118:18
• 5. Psalms 14:5
• 6. Ecclesiastes 8:17
• 7. Psalms 27:4; Psalms 77:13
• 8. Psalms 37:38
• 9. Psalms 35:6
• 10. Psalms 35:8; Psalms 36:12
• 11. Numbers 16:21; Isaiah 47:11
• 12. Job 18:11
• 13. Job 20:8
• 14. Psalms 78:65
• 15. 1 Samuel 2:30
• 16. Judges 10:16
• 17. Acts 2:37
• 18. Psalms 49:10; Psalms 92:6
• 19. Job 18:3; Psalms 49:20; Ecclesiastes 3:18
• 20. Psalms 16:8

Footnotes

• [a] Or "cleansed my heart"
• [b] Lit "my chastening"
• [c] Lit "labor, trouble"
• [d] Lit "sanctuaries"
• [e] Lit "ruins"
• [f] Lit "become a desolation"
• [g] Or "image"
• [h] Lit "in my kidneys"
• [i] Or "an animal"
• [j] Lit "with You"