BOOK 3

The End of the Wicked Contrasted with That of the Righteous.

A Psalm of Asaph.

1Surely God is good to Israel,
         To those who are pure in heart!

2But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
         My steps had almost slipped.

3For I was envious of the arrogant
         As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For there are no pains in their death,
         And their body is fat.

5They are not in trouble as other men,
         Nor are they plagued like mankind.

6Therefore pride is their necklace;
         The garment of violence covers them.

7Their eye bulges from fatness;
         The imaginations of their heart run riot.

8They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;
         They speak from on high.

9They have set their mouth against the heavens,
         And their tongue parades through the earth.

10Therefore his people return to this place,
         And waters of abundance are drunk by them.

11They say, “How does God know?
         And is there knowledge with the Most High?”

12Behold, these are the wicked;
         And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.

13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
         And washed my hands in innocence;

14For I have been stricken all day long
         And chastened every morning.

15If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
         Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.

16When I pondered to understand this,
         It was troublesome in my sight

17Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
         Then I perceived their end.

18Surely You set them in slippery places;
         You cast them down to destruction.

19How they are destroyed in a moment!
         They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!

20Like a dream when one awakes,
         O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.

21When my heart was embittered
         And I was pierced within,

22Then I was senseless and ignorant;
         I was like a beast before You.

23Nevertheless I am continually with You;
         You have taken hold of my right hand.

24With Your counsel You will guide me,
         And afterward receive me to glory.

25Whom have I in heaven but You?
         And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

26My flesh and my heart may fail,
         But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
         You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.

28But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
         I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
         That I may tell of all Your works.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
Surely God is good to Israel, Even to such as are pure in heart.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!

Darby Bible Translation
{A Psalm of Asaph.} Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.

English Revised Version
BOOK III A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, even to such as are pure in heart.

Webster's Bible Translation
A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

World English Bible
Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

Young's Literal Translation
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,Nearness to God the Key to Life's Puzzle
'It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works.'--PSALM lxxiii. 28. The old perplexity as to how it comes, if God is good and wise and strong, that bad men should prosper and good men should suffer, has been making the Psalmist's faith reel. He does not answer the question exactly as the New Testament would have done, but he does find a solution sufficient for himself in two thoughts, the transiency of that outward prosperity, and the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Reasonable Rapture
'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.' --PSALM lxxiii. 25, 26. We have in this psalm the record of the Psalmist's struggle with the great standing difficulty of how to reconcile the unequal distribution of worldly prosperity with the wisdom and providence of God. That difficulty pressed more acutely upon men of the Old Dispensation than even upon us, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"Let us Pray"
Nevertheless, prayer is the best used means of drawing near to God. You will excuse me, then, if in considering my text this morning, I confine myself entirely to the subject of prayer. It is in prayer mainly, that we draw near to God, and certainly it can be said emphatically of prayer, it is good for every man who knoweth how to practice that heavenly art, in it to draw near unto God. To assist your memories, that the sermon may abide with you in after days, I shall divide my discourse this morning …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

What is Meant by "Altogether Lovely"
Let us consider this excellent expression, and particularly reflect on what is contained in it, and you shall find this expression "altogether lovely." First, It excludes all unloveliness and disagreeableness from Jesus Christ. As a theologian long ago said, "There is nothing in him which is not loveable." The excellencies of Jesus Christ are perfectly exclusive of all their opposites; there is nothing of a contrary property or quality found in him to contaminate or devaluate his excellency. And …
John Flavel—Christ Altogether Lovely

How to Make Use of Christ, as Truth, for Comfort, when Truth is Oppressed and Born Down.
There is another difficulty, wherein believing souls will stand in need of Christ, as the truth, to help them; and that is, when his work is overturned, his cause borne down, truth condemned, and enemies, in their opposition to his work, prospering in all their wicked attempts. This is a very trying dispensation, as we see it was to the holy penman of Psalm lxxiii. for it made him to stagger, so that his feet were almost gone, and his steps had well nigh slipt; yea he was almost repenting of his …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Of a Low Estimation of Self in the Sight of God
I will speak unto my Lord who am but dust and ashes. If I count myself more, behold Thou standest against me, and my iniquities bear true testimony, and I cannot gainsay it. But if I abase myself, and bring myself to nought, and shrink from all self-esteem, and grind myself to dust, which I am, Thy grace will be favourable unto me, and Thy light will be near unto my heart; and all self-esteem, how little soever it be, shall be swallowed up in the depths of my nothingness, and shall perish for ever. …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Bride, the Lamb's Wife
"Whom have I in Heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee."--Ps. lxxiii. 25. Mechthild of Hellfde, 1277. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 Thus speaks the Bride whose feet have trod The chamber of eternal rest, The secret treasure-house of God, Where God is manifest: "Created things, arise and flee, Ye are but sorrow and care to me." This wide, wide world, so rich and fair, Thou sure canst find thy solace there? "Nay, 'neath the flowers the serpent glides, Amidst the bravery …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

My God
J. Tauler Ps. lxxiii. 25 As the bridegroom to his chosen, As the king unto his realm, As the keep unto the castle, As the pilot to the helm, So, Lord, art Thou to me. As the fountain in the garden, As the candle in the dark, As the treasure in the coffer, As the manna in the ark, So, Lord, art Thou to me. As the music at the banquet, As the stamp unto the seal, As the medicine to the fainting, As the wine-cup at the meal, So, Lord, art Thou to me. As the ruby in the setting, As the honey in the …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Two Awakings
'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' --PSALM xvii. 15. 'As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image.'--PSALM lxxiii. 20. Both of these Psalms are occupied with that standing puzzle to Old Testament worthies--the good fortune of bad men, and the bad fortune of good ones. The former recounts the personal calamities of David, its author. The latter gives us the picture of the perplexity of Asaph its writer, when he 'saw the prosperity …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Joy of the Lord.
IT is written "the joy of the Lord is your strength." Every child of God knows in some measure what it is to rejoice in the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ must ever be the sole object of the believer's joy, and as eyes and heart look upon Him, we, too, like "the strangers scattered abroad" to whom Peter wrote shall "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. i:8). But it is upon our heart to meditate with our beloved readers on the joy of our adorable Lord, as his own personal joy. The …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Of the Trinity and a Christian, and of the Law and a Christian.
EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. These two short treatises were found among Mr. Bunyan's papers after his decease. They probably were intended for publication, like his 'Prison Meditations' and his 'Map of Salvation,' on a single page each, in the form of a broadside, or handbill. This was the popular mode in which tracts were distributed; and when posted against a wall, or framed and hung up in a room, they excited notice, and were extensively read. They might also have afforded some trifling profit to aid …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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