1 How good is God to Israel, to the upright in heart!

2 But my feet were almost overthrown; my goings very nearly slipped.

3 For I was jealous of the transgressors, beholding the tranquility of sinners.

4 For there is no sign of reluctance in their death: and they have firmness under their affliction.

5 They are not in the troubles of other men; and they shall not be scourged with other men.

6 Therefore pride has possessed them; they have clothed themselves with their injustice and ungodliness.

7 Their injustice shall go forth as out of fatness: they have fulfilled their intention.

8 They have taken counsel and spoken in wickedness: they have uttered unrighteousness loftily.

9 They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has gone through upon the earth.

10 Therefore shall my people return hither: and full days shall be found * Gr. in. with them.

11 And they said, How does God know? and † Gr. if there is. is there knowledge in the Most High?

12 Behold, these are the sinners, and they that prosper always: they have possessed wealth.

13 And I said, Verily in vain have I justified my heart, and washed my hands in innocency.

14 For I was plagued all the day, and my reproof was every morning.

15 If I said, I will speak thus; behold, I should have broken covenant with the generation of thy children.

16 And I undertook to understand this, but it is too hard for me,

17 until I go into the sanctuary of God; and so understand the latter end.

18 Surely thou hast appointed judgments to them because of their crafty dealings: thou hast cast them down when they were lifted up.

19 How have they become desolate! suddenly they have failed: they have perished because of their iniquity.

20 As the dream of one awakening, O Lord, in thy city thou wilt despise their image.

21 For my heart has rejoiced, and my reins have been ‡ Gr. changed. gladdened.

22 But I was vile and knew not: I became brutish before thee.

23 Yet I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand.

24 Thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and thou hast taken me to thyself with glory.

25 For what have I in heaven but thee? and what have I desired upon the earth beside thee?

26 My heart and my flesh have failed: but God is the strength of my heart, and God is my portion for ever.

27 For, behold, they that remove themselves far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed every one that goes a whoring from thee.

28 But it is good for me to cleave close to God, to put my trust in the Lord; that I may proclaim all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.