Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is nothing upon earth, that I desire in comparison of thee.

{A Psalm of Asaph} Truly God is loving unto Israel, even unto such as are of a clean heart.

My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.

Thou leadest me with thy counsel, and afterward receivest me unto glory.

Nevertheless, I am always by thee; thou holdest me by my righthand.

But it is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my trust in the LORD God, and to speak of all thy works in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

And why? I was grieved at the wicked, to see the ungodly in such prosperity.

Thus my heart was grieved, and it went even through my veins.

Then thought I to understand this; but it was too hard for me,

Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone; my treadings had well nigh slipped.

Namely, how thou hast set them in a slippery places, that thou mayest cast them down headlong and destroy them.

until I went into the Sanctuary of God. Then understood I the end of these men.

and I said, "Then have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency?

Lo, these are the ungodly, these prosper in the world, these have riches in possession;

"Tush," say they, "How should God perceive it? Is there knowledge in the most high?"

Yea, I had almost also said even as they do; but lo, then should I have condemned the generation of thy children.

Their eyes swell with fatness, and they do even what they lust.

So foolish was I, and ignorant, even as it were a beast before thee.

For they are in no peril of death, but stand fast like a palace.

They stretch forth their mouth unto the heaven, and their tongue goeth through the world.

And this is the cause that they be so puffed up in pride, and overwhelmed with cruelty and unrighteousness.

They corrupt others, and speak blasphemies maliciously; proud and presumptuous are their words.

For lo, they that forsake thee shall perish; thou destroyest all them that commit fornication against thee.

Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh, so makest thou their image to vanish out of the city.

Wherefore should I be then punished daily, and be chastened every morning?"

They come in no misfortune like other folk; neither are they plagued like other men.

Therefore fall the people unto them, and there out suck they no small advantage.

O how suddenly do they consume, perish and come to a fearful end!