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A Psalm for Asaph.
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How good is God to Israel, to the upright in heart!
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But my feet were almost overthrown; my goings very nearly slipped.
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For I was jealous of the transgressors, beholding the tranquillity of sinners.
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For there is no sign of reluctance in their death: and they have firmness under their affliction.
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They are not in the troubles of other men; and they shall not be scourged with other men.
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Therefore pride has possessed them; they have clothed themselves with their injustice and ungodliness.
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Their injustice shall go forth as out of fatness: they have fulfilled their intention.
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They have taken counsel and spoken in wickedness: they have uttered unrighteousness loftily.
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They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has gone through upon the earth.
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Therefore shall my people return hither: and full days shall be found with them.
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And they said, How does God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High?
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Behold, these are the sinners, and they that prosper always: they have possessed wealth.
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And I said, Verily in vain have I justified my heart, and washed my hands in innocency.
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For I was plagued all the day, and my reproof was every morning.
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If I said, I will speak thus; behold, I should have broken covenant with the generation of thy children.
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And I undertook to understand this, but it is too hard for me,
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until I go into the sanctuary of God; and so understand the latter end.
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Surely thou hast appointed judgments to them because of their crafty dealings: thou hast cast them down when they were lifted up.
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How have they become desolate! suddenly they have failed: they have perished because of their iniquity.
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As the dream of one awakening, O Lord, in thy city thou wilt despise their image.
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For my heart has rejoiced, and my reins have been gladdened.
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But I was vile and knew not: I became brutish before thee.
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Yet I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand.
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Thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and thou hast taken me to thyself with glory.
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For what have I in heaven but thee ? and what have I desired upon the earth beside thee?
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My heart and my flesh have failed: but God is the strength of my heart, and God is my portion for ever.
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For, behold, they that remove themselves far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed every one that goes a whoring from thee.
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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.