¹Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose minds are pure.[#73:1. Literally, “hearts.” In Hebrew understanding the heart was where thinking was done.]

²But I was stumbling, my feet were starting to slide,[#73:2. The psalmist is indicating he was losing faith.]

³because I was jealous of self-important people—I saw how well the wicked were doing.

⁴They don't ever seem to get sick; they are strong and healthy.

⁵They don't have problems like other people; they don't get hit by disasters like everybody else.

⁶They wear their pride like a necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.

⁷Their eyes bulge out because they're so fat; their minds are full of selfish vanity.[#73:7. Or “from their evil hearts pours out iniquity.”]

⁸They mock people, and speak maliciously; they arrogantly threaten cruelty.

⁹They talk irreverently against heaven above, and defame people here on earth.

¹⁰As a result people turn to them and drink in everything they say.[#73:10. The Hebrew text is hard to understand: “Therefore he brings back his people here and abundant waters are drained by them.”]

¹¹“God won't find out,” they say. “The Most High doesn't even know what's going on!”

¹²Look at these wicked people! They don't have a care in the world, and they're always making money!

¹³It's been pointless to keep my mind pure and my hands clean.

¹⁴I'm cursed with suffering all day long; every morning I'm punished.

¹⁵If I'd talked like this to others, I would have betrayed your people.[#73:15. Referring back to what the wicked said in verse 11.]

¹⁶So I thought about it and tried to understand, but it looked like a lot of hard work to me—[#73:16. The psalmist is trying to understand why the wicked prosper.]

¹⁷until I went into God's Temple. Then I understood what happens to the wicked in the end.

¹⁸For you send them on a slippery path; you throw them down to destruction.

¹⁹How quickly they're destroyed! They come to a terrifying end.

²⁰Like waking up from a dream, Lord—when you get up you will forget all about them!

²¹At that time my thoughts were bitter. I felt like I had been stabbed.

²²I was stupid and ignorant. I was like a brute beast to you.

²³Yet I'm always with you; you hold me by the hand.

²⁴You tell me what to do; and ultimately you will welcome me in glory.

²⁵Who is there in heaven for me except you? And I want nothing on earth except you.

²⁶My body and my mind may fail, but God is the foundation of my life. He is mine forever!

²⁷Those people who are far from God will die. You destroy all those unfaithful to you.

²⁸But I love to stay close to God! I have chosen the Lord God to protect me. I will share all that you have done.