1 A PSALM OF ASAPH. Surely God is good to Israel, to the clean of heart. And I—as a little thing, || My feet have been turned aside, 2 As nothing, my steps have slipped, || For I have been envious of the boastful, 3 I see the peace of the wicked, || That there are no bands at their death, 4 And their might is firm. 5 They are not in the misery of mortals, || And they are not plagued with common men. 6 Therefore pride has encircled them, || Violence covers them as a dress. 7 Their eye has come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed; 8 They do corruptly, || And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, || They speak from on high. 9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, || And their tongue walks in the earth. 10 Therefore His people return here, || And waters of fullness are wrung out to them. 11 And they have said, “How has God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” 12 Behold, these are the wicked and easy ones of the age, || They have increased strength. 13 Only—a vain thing! I have purified my heart, || And I wash my hands in innocence, 14 And I am plagued all the day, || And my reproof—every morning. 15 If I have said, “I recount thus,” || Behold, I have deceived a generation of Your sons. 16 And I think to know this, || It is perverseness in my eyes, 17 Until I come into the sanctuaries of God, || I attend to their latter end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places, || You have caused them to fall to desolations. 19 How they have become a desolation as in a moment, || They have been ended—consumed from terrors. 20 As a dream from awakening, O Lord, || In awaking, You despise their image. 21 For my heart shows itself violent, || And my reins prick themselves, 22 And I am brutish, and do not know. I have been a beast with You. 23 And I am continually with You, || You have laid hold on my right hand. 24 You lead me with Your counsel, || And after, receive me to glory. 25 Whom do I have in the heavens? And none have I desired in earth besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart have been consumed, || God is the rock of my heart and my portion to a distant age. 27 For behold, those far from You perish, || You have cut off everyone, || Who is going whoring from You. 28 And the nearness of God to me is good, || I have placed my refuge in Lord YHWH, || To recount all Your works!