Surely God is good to Israel,

Even to such as are pure in heart.

2But as for me, my feet were almost gone;

My steps had well nigh slipped.

3For I was envious at the arrogant,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For there are no pangs at their death,

And their body is sound.

5In the trouble of man they are not;

Neither are they plagued like men.

6Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;

Violence covereth them as a garment.

7Their eyes stand forth from fatness;

They are gone beyond the imaginations of their heart.

8They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression;

They speak as if there were none on high.

9They have set their mouth against the heavens,

And their tongue walketh through the earth.

10Therefore His people return hither;

And waters of fullness are drained out by them.

11And they say: ‘How doth God know?

And is there knowledge in the Most High?’

12Behold, such are the wicked;

And they that are always at ease increase riches.

13Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,

And washed my hands in innocency;

14For all the day have I been plagued,

And my chastisement came every morning.

15If I had said: ‘I will speak thus’,

Behold, I had been faithless to the generation of Thy children.

16And when I pondered how I might know this,

It was wearisome in mine eyes;

17Until I entered into the sanctuary of God,

And considered their end.

18Surely Thou settest them in slippery places;

Thou hurlest them down to utter ruin.

19How are they become a desolation in a moment!

They are wholly consumed by terrors.

20As a dream when one awaketh,

So, O Lord, when Thou arousest Thyself, Thou wilt despise their semblance.

21For my heart was in a ferment,

And I was pricked in my reins.

22But I was brutish, and ignorant;

I was as a beast before Thee.

23Nevertheless I am continually with Thee;

Thou holdest my right hand.

24Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel,

And afterward receive me with glory.

25Whom have I in heaven but Thee?

And beside Thee I desire none upon earth.

26My flesh and my heart faileth;

But God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever.

27For, lo, they that go far from Thee shall perish;

Thou dost destroy all them that go astray from Thee.

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 Thy works.