1. 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,
2. As nothing, have my steps slipped, For I have been envious of the boastful,
3. The peace of the wicked I see, That there are no bands at their death,
4. And their might [is] firm.
5. In the misery of mortals they are not, And with common men they are not plagued.
6. Therefore hath pride encircled them, Violence covereth them as a dress.
7. Their eye hath come out from fat. The imaginations of the heart transgressed;
8. They do corruptly, And they speak in the wickedness of oppression, From on high they speak.
9. They have set in the heavens their mouth, And their tongue walketh in the earth.
10. Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them.
11. And they have said, `How hath God known? And is there knowledge in the Most High?'
12. Lo, 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 in innocency my hands,
14. And I am plagued all the day, And my reproof [is] every morning.
15. If I have said, `I recount thus,' Lo, a generation of Thy sons I have deceived.
16. And I think to know this, Perverseness it [is] in mine eyes,