1  Truly God is good to ^cIsrael,

to those who are ^dpure in heart.

2  But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

3  ^eFor I was ^fenvious of the arrogant

when I saw the ^gprosperity of the wicked.

4  For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

5  They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not ^hstricken like the rest of mankind.

6  Therefore pride is ⁱtheir necklace;

violence covers them as ^ja garment.

7  Their ^keyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

8  They scoff and ^lspeak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

9  They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

10  Therefore his people turn back to them,

and find ^mno fault in them.¹

11  And they say, ⁿ“How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12  Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they ^oincrease in riches.

13  All in vain have I ^pkept my heart clean

and ^qwashed my hands in innocence.

14  For all the day long I have been ^hstricken

and ^rrebuked ^severy morning.

15  If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

I would have betrayed ^tthe generation of your children.

16  But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me ^ua wearisome task,

17  until I went into ^vthe sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their ^wend.

18  Truly you set them in ^xslippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

19  How they are destroyed ^yin a moment,

swept away utterly by ^zterrors!

20  Like ^aa dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when ^byou rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

21  When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

22  I was ^cbrutish and ignorant;

I was like ^da beast toward you.

23  Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you ^ehold my right hand.

24  You ^fguide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will ^greceive me to glory.

25  ^hWhom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26  ⁱMy flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is ^jthe strength² of my heart and my ^kportion ^lforever.

27  For behold, those who are ^mfar from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is ⁿunfaithful to you.

28  But for me it is good to ^obe near God;

I have made the Lord God my ^prefuge,

that I may ^qtell of all your works.

2  In that day,

^g“A pleasant vineyard,^{1 h}sing of it!

3  I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it,

I keep it night and day;

4  I have no wrath.

ⁱWould that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would march against them,

I would burn them up together.

5  Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

6  ^jIn days to come² Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.

7  ^kHas he struck them ^las he struck those who struck them?

Or have they been slain ^mas their slayers were slain?

8  ⁿMeasure by measure,³ by exile you contended with them;

^ohe removed them with his fierce breath⁴ in the day of the east wind.

9  Therefore by this ^pthe guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:⁵

^qwhen he makes all the stones of the altars

like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

no ^rAsherim or incense altars will remain standing.

10  ^sFor the fortified city is solitary,

a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

there the calf grazes;

there it lies down and strips its branches.

11  When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

women come and make a fire of them.

^tFor this is a people without discernment;

therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

he who formed them will show them no favor.