1 'n Psalm van Asaf. Waarlik, God is goed vir Israel, vir die wat rein van hart is.
2 Maar wat my aangaan, my voete het amper gestruikel, my voetstappe het byna uitgegly.
3 Want ek was afgunstig op die onsinniges toe ek die voorspoed van die goddelose mense sien.
4 Want daar is geen kwellings by hulle nie, gesond en vet is hulle liggaam.
5 In die moeite van sterwelinge is hulle nie, en saam met ander mense word hulle nie geplaag nie.
6 Daarom is die trots om hulle soos 'n halssieraad, die geweld bedek hulle soos 'n gewaad.
7 Hulle oë puil uit van vet; die inbeeldinge van die hart loop oor.
8 Hulle spot en spreek in boosheid verdrukking; hulle spreek uit die hoogte.
9 Hulle stel hul mond teen die hemel, en hul tong wandel op die aarde.
10 Daarom draai hulle mense hul hierheen, en waters in volheid word deur hulle geslurp.
11 En hulle sê: Hoe sou God dit weet, en sou daar kennis by die Allerhoogste wees?
12 Kyk, so is die goddelose mense, en altyd onbesorg vermeerder hulle die rykdom!
13 Waarlik, tevergeefs het ek my hart rein gehou en my hande in onskuld gewas.
14 Die hele dag tog is ek geslaan, en my tugtiging was daar elke môre .
15 As ek gesê het: Ek wil ook so spreek -- dan sou ek ontrou gewees het aan die geslag van u kinders!
16 Toe het ek nagedink om dit te verstaan, maar dit was moeite in my oë,
17 totdat ek in die heiligdomme van God ingegaan en op hulle einde gelet het.
18 Waarlik, U stel hulle op gladde plekke; U laat hulle in puin val.
19 Hoe word hulle in 'n oomblik 'n voorwerp van verbasing, vergaan hulle, raak hulle tot niet deur verskrikkinge!
20 Soos 'n droom nadat 'n mens wakker word, o Here, so verag U, as U opwaak, hulle beeld!
21 Toe my hart bitter gestemd en ek in my niere geprikkel was,
22 toe was ,k dom en het niks geweet nie; ek was 'n dier by U.
23 Nogtans is ek altyddeur by U; U het my regterhand gevat.
24 U sal my lei deur u raad en my daarna in heerlikheid opneem.
25 Wie het ek buiten U in die hemel? Buiten U begeer ek ook niks op die aarde nie.
26 Al beswyk my vlees en my hart -- God is die rots van my hart en my deel tot in ewigheid.
27 Want kyk, die wat hulle ver van U af hou, vergaan; U roei almal uit wat van U afhoereer.
28 Maar wat my aangaan, dit is vir my goed om naby God te wees; in die Here HERE het ek my toevlug gestel, om al u werke te vertel.
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
Even to such as are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone;
My steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the arrogant,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no pangs in their death;
But their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men;
Neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride is as a chain about their neck;
Violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness:
They have more than heart could wish.
8 They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression:
They speak loftily.
9 They have set their mouth in the heavens,
And their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither:
And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
11 And they say, How doth God know?
And is there knowledge in the Most High?
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
And, being alway at ease, they increase in riches.
13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,
And washed my hands in innocency;
14 For all the day long have I been plagued,
And chastened every morning.
15 If I had said, I will speak thus;
Behold, I had dealt treacherously with the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought how I might know this,
It was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God,
And considered their latter end.
18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places:
Thou castest them down to destruction.
19 How are they become a desolation in a moment!
They are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh,
So, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou wilt despise their image.
21 For my soul was grieved,
And I was pricked in my heart:
22 So brutish was I, and ignorant;
I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee:
Thou hast holden my right hand.
24 Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel,
And afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish:
Thou hast destroyed all them that play the harlot, departing from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near unto God:
I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,
That I may tell of all thy works.