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[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 with them.
[11]And they said, How does God know? and 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 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.
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