Psalm 73:19-28

19 How they are ¹destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by ²sudden terrors!

20 Like a ³dream when one awakes, O Lord, when ⁴aroused, You will ⁵despise their form.

21 When my ⁶heart was embittered And I was ⁷pierced within,

22 Then I was ⁸senseless and ignorant *; I was like a ⁹beast before You.

23 Nevertheless ¹⁰I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.

24 With Your counsel You will ¹¹guide me, And afterward ¹²receive me to glory.

25 ¹³Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

26 My ¹⁴flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my ¹⁵portion forever.

27 For, behold, ¹⁶those who are far from You will ¹⁷perish; You have destroyed all those who ¹⁸are unfaithful to You.

28 But as for me, ¹⁹the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my ²⁰refuge, That I may ²¹tell of all Your works.

Psalm 73:19-28 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 16:21; Isaiah 47:11
• 2. Job 18:11
• 3. Job 20:8
• 4. Psalms 78:65
• 5. 1 Samuel 2:30
• 6. Judges 10:16
• 7. Acts 2:37
• 8. Psalms 49:10; Psalms 92:6
• 9. Job 18:3; Psalms 49:20; Ecclesiastes 3:18
• 10. Psalms 16:8
• 11. Psalms 32:8; Psalms 48:14; Isaiah 58:11
• 12. Genesis 5:24; Psalms 49:15
• 13. Psalms 16:2; Philippians 3:8
• 14. Psalms 38:10; Psalms 40:12; Psalms 84:2; Psalms 119:81
• 15. Psalms 16:5
• 16. Psalms 119:155
• 17. Psalms 37:20
• 18. Exodus 34:15; Numbers 15:39; Psalms 106:39; Hosea 4:12; Hosea 9:1
• 19. Psalms 65:4; Hebrews 10:22; James 4:8
• 20. Psalms 14:6; Psalms 71:7
• 21. Psalms 40:5; Psalms 107:22; Psalms 118:17

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "become a desolation"
• [b] Or "image"
• [c] Lit "in my kidneys"
• [d] Or "an animal"
• [e] Lit "with You"
• [f] Or "with honor"
• [g] Or "with"
• [h] Lit "rock"
• [i] Or "silenced"
• [j] Lit "go to a whoring from"
• [k] Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD