A Psalm of Asaph. Only -- good to Israel is God, to the clean of heart. And I -- as a little thing, My feet have been turned aside,

As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,

For they have no pain; their bodies are fat and strong.

They are not in trouble as others are; they have no part in the unhappy fate of men.

Their eyes are bursting with fat; they have more than their heart's desire.

They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth.

Therefore they have more than enough food to eat, and even suck up the water of the sea.

And they have said, 'How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'

Lo, these are the wicked and easy ones of the age, They have increased strength.

As for me, I have made my heart clean to no purpose, washing my hands in righteousness;

For I have been troubled all the day; every morning have I undergone punishment.

If I have said, 'I recount thus,' Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived.

You have certainly set them in slippery places; you will make them fall to their ruin.

How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors.

And I am brutish, and do not know. A beast I have been with Thee.

But still I am ever with you; you have taken me by my right hand.

Whom have I in heaven but you? and having you I have no desire for anything on earth.

Failed have my flesh and my heart, The rock of my heart - and my portion, is God unto times age-abiding.

For those who are far away from you will come to destruction: you will put an end to all those who have not kept faith with you.

But it is good for me to come near to God: I have put my faith in the Lord God, so that I may make clear all his works.

Of God, why have you put us away from you for ever? why is the fire of your wrath smoking against the sheep who are your care?

Remember your congregation [that] you bought long ago, [when] you redeemed the tribe of your inheritance. [Remember] {Mount Zion} where you have dwelt.

Go up and see the unending destruction; all the evil which your haters have done in the holy place;

Sending out their voices like lions among your worshippers; they have put up their signs to be seen.

And now its carved works altogether they have smashed with axe and hammer.

They have put on fire your holy place; they have made the place of your name unclean, pulling it down to the earth.

They have said in their hearts, Let us put an end to them all together; they have given over to the fire all God's places of worship in the land.

Our ensigns we have not seen, There is no more a prophet, Nor with us is one knowing how long.

The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

By you all the limits of the earth were fixed; you have made summer and winter.

Keep this in mind, O Lord, that your haters have said cruel things, and that your name has been looked down on by a people of evil behaviour.

Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

To the Overseer. -- 'Destroy not.' -- A Psalm of Asaph. -- A Song. We have given thanks to Thee, O God, We have given thanks, and near is Thy name, They have recounted Thy wonders.

Melted is the earth and all its inhabitants, I -- I have pondered its pillars. Selah.

I have said to the boastful, 'Be not boastful,' And to the wicked, 'Raise not up a horn.'

Do not be so certain you have won! Do not speak with your head held so high!

As for me, I will continually tell what you have done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob!

Gone is the wealth of the strong, their last sleep has overcome them; the men of war have become feeble.

From Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both rider and horse have been fast asleep.

In the day I [have] trouble, I seek the Lord. At night my hand stretches out {continually}; my soul refuses to be comforted.

Thou hast taken hold of the watches of mine eyes, I have been moved, and I speak not.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Have His promises ended for all time?

Has God forgotten to have compassion? Or has he closed off his mercies in anger? Selah

And I have meditated on all Thy working, And I talk concerning Thy doings.

You are the God who does works of power: you have made your strength clear to the nations.

With your arm you have made your people free, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah.)

The waters have seen Thee, O God, The waters have seen Thee, They are afraid -- also depths are troubled.

Poured out waters have thick clouds, The skies have given forth a noise, Also -- Thine arrows go up and down.

The voice of Thy thunder is in the spheres, Lightnings have lightened the world, The earth hath trembled, yea, it shaketh.

In the sea is Thy way, And Thy paths are in many waters, And Thy tracks have not been known.

You have led your people like a flock by the hands of Moses and Aaron. An instruction of Asaph

I will open my mouth in similitudes, and will speak forth things which have been kept secret from the beginning of the world;

Which have come to our hearing and our knowledge, as they were given to us by our fathers.

So that the generation to come might have knowledge of them, even the children of the future, who would give word of them to their children;

Sons of Ephraim -- armed bearers of bow, Have turned in a day of conflict.

They have not kept the covenant of God, And in His law they have refused to walk,

They have forgotten what he has done, his awesome deeds that they witnessed.

Lo! he hath smitten a rock, And waters, have gushed out, Yea, torrents, have rushed along, - Food also, can he give? Or provide flesh for his people?

For they have not believed in God, Nor have they trusted in His salvation.

They have not been estranged from their desire, Yet is their food in their mouth,

With all this they have sinned again, And have not believed in His wonders.

And their heart hath not been right with Him, And they have not been stedfast in His covenant.

Yea, they turn back, and try God, And the Holy One of Israel have limited.

They have not remembered His hand The day He ransomed them from the adversary.

He let his wrath have its way; he did not keep back their soul from death, but gave their life to disease.

And He leadeth them confidently, And they have not been afraid, And their enemies hath the sea covered.

And they tempt and provoke God Most High, And His testimonies have not kept.

And they turn back, And deal treacherously like their fathers, They have been turned like a deceitful bow,

His young men hath fire consumed, And His virgins have not been praised.

His priests by the sword have fallen, And their widows weep not.

from following the ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

O God, the nations have come into your heritage; they have made your holy Temple unclean; they have made Jerusalem a mass of broken walls.

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

We have been a reproach to our neighbours, A scorn and a derision to our surrounders.

Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.

Remember not for us the iniquities of forefathers, Haste, let Thy mercies go before us, For we have been very weak.

And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

Give ear, O Keeper of Israel, guiding Joseph like a flock; you who have your seat on the winged ones, let your glory be seen.

You have given them the bread of weeping for food; for their drink you have given them sorrow in great measure.

You have made us [an object of] strife to our neighbors, and our enemies mock among themselves.

You have brought a vine out of Egypt: you have cast out the nations, and planted it.

Covered have been hills with its shadow, And its boughs are cedars of God.

Why have You broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its fruit?

The wild boar out of the wood hath rooted it up, and the beasts of the field have devoured it.

Turn again [in favor to us], O God of hosts;
Look down from heaven and see, and take care of this vine,

Even the shoot which Your right hand has planted,
And on the son whom You have strengthened for Yourself.

It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your [angry] appearance.

Let Your hand be with the man at Your right hand,
with the son of man
You have made strong for Yourself.

A testimony on Joseph He hath placed it, In his going forth over the land of Egypt. A lip, I have not known -- I hear.

You must neither have a foreign god over you or worship a strange god.

But my people did not give ear to my voice; Israel would have nothing to do with me.

I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

Defend the poor and fatherless, see that such as be in need and necessity have right.

I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

See how Your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate You have acted arrogantly.