Day Thirty Reading – Psalms 73-74
Psalms 73 ASV
1 A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, Even to such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the arrogant, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs in their death; But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men; Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck; Violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression: They speak loftily.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither: And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
11 And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?
12 Behold, these are the wicked; And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, And washed my hands in innocency;
14 For all the day long have I been plagued, And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, I will speak thus; Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought how I might know this, It was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, And considered their latter end.
18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction.
19 How are they become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh, So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
21 For my soul was grieved, And I was pricked in my heart:
22 So brutish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: Thou hast holden my right hand.
24 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near unto God: I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge, That I may tell of all thy works.
Psalms 74
1 Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, Which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance; And mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.
3 Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual ruins, All the evil that the enemy hath done in the sanctuary.
4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly; They have set up their ensigns for signs.
5 They seemed as men that lifted up Axes upon a thicket of trees.
6 And now all the carved work thereof They break down with hatchet and hammers.
7 They have set thy sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name by casting it to the ground.
8 They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether: They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.
9 We see not our signs: There is no more any prophet; Neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them.
12 Yet God is my King of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces; Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: Thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Jehovah, And that a foolish people hath blasphemed thy name.
19 Oh deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the wild beast: Forget not the life of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant; For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Oh let not the oppressed return ashamed: Let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee all the day.
23 Forget not the voice of thine adversaries: The tumult of those that rise up against thee ascendeth continually.
American Standard Version (ASV): Public Domain