Psalms 73:1-8

1 A Psalm of Asaph. Only -- good to Israel [is] God, to the clean of heart. And I -- as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside,

2 As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,

3 The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death,

4 And their might [is] firm.

5 In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued.

6 Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress.

7 Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;

8 They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak.

Psalms 73:1-8 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.