The Wicked and the Righteous Contrasted

• 73 to those pure of heart.
• 2  My steps had nearly slipped,
• 3  when I saw the well-being[fn] of the wicked.
• 4  and their bodies are[fn]
• 5 [fn] and they are not plagued as other people.[fn]
• 6 an outfit of violence covers them.
• 7 [fn] Imaginings overflow their heart.
• 8  they speak as though from on high.
• 9  and their tongue roams the earth.
• 10 [fn] and abundant waters are slurped up by them.
• 11  and, “Does the Most High have knowledge?”
• 12 are the wicked, and they increase wealth, ever carefree.
• 13  and washed my hands in innocence.
• 14  and rebuked[fn]
• 15  behold, I would have acted treacherously
• against your children’s generation.
• 16 how to understand this, it was troubling in my eyes
• 17  Then I understood their fate.
• 18  You cause them to fall onto ruin.[fn]
• 19  They come to a complete end by terrors.
• 20  when you wake up, O Lord,
• you will despise their fleeting form.[fn]
• 21  and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,
• 22  With you I was like the beasts.
• 23 am continually with you; you have hold of my right hand.
• 24  and afterward you will take me into honor.[fn]
• 25 except you? And with you I have no other desire on earth.
• 26  but God is the[fn] of my heart and my reward forever.
• 27 those distancing themselves from you will be ruined. You destroy each who abandons you for harlotry.
• 28 is for my good. I have set the Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
• in order to tell all your works.