Psalms 73:12-22

12 These people are wicked, always at ease, and getting richer.
13 So why have I kept my heart pure? Why have I kept my hands from doing wrong?
14 I have suffered all day long; I have been punished every morning.
15 God, if I had decided to talk like this, I would have let your people down.
16 I tried to understand all this, but it was too hard for me to see
17 until I went to the Temple of God. Then I understood what will happen to them.
18 You have put them in danger; you cause them to be destroyed.
19 They are destroyed in a moment; they are swept away by terrors.
20 It will be like waking from a dream. Lord, when you rise up, they will disappear.
21 When my heart was sad and I was angry,
22 I was senseless and stupid. I acted like an animal toward you.

Psalms 73:12-22 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.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.