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Psalm 72

The temptation of the weak, upon seeing the prosperity of the wicked, is overcome by the consideration of the justice of God, who will quickly render to every one according to his works.

Does this psalm differ from what you were expecting? Don't be confused. There are two systems for arranging the psalms: the Septuagint and the Masoretic. We use the Septuagint system here. In the Masoretic system, which is used in most modern Bible translations, this psalm is called Psalm 73, and the previous psalm is known as Psalm 72.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 A psalm for Asaph.

How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!
2 But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.
4 For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes.
5 They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men.
6 Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.
7 Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart. Fatness... Abundance and temporal prosperity, which hath encouraged them in their iniquity: and made them give themselves up to their irregular affections.
8 They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.
9 They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth.
10 Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them. Return here... or hither. The weak among the servants of God, will be apt often to return to this thought, and will be shocked when they consider the full days, that is, the long and prosperous life of the wicked; and will be tempted to make the reflections against providence which are set down in the following verses.
11 And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold these are sinners; and yet, abounding in the world they have obtained riches.
13 And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent.
14 And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings.
15 If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children. If I said, etc... That is, if I should indulge such thoughts as these.
16 I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight:
17 Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.
18 But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down. Thou hast put it to them... In punishment of their deceits, or for deceiving them, thou hast brought evils upon them in their last end, which, in their prosperity they never apprehended.
19 How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity.
20 As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.
21 For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:
22 And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.
23 I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee.
24 Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me.
25 For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?
26 For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.
27 For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee.
28 But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Psalmus Asaph.

Quam bonus Israël Deus,
his qui recto sunt corde!
2 Mei autem pene moti sunt pedes,
pene effusi sunt gressus mei:
3 quia zelavi super iniquos,
pacem peccatorum videns.
4 Quia non est respectus morti eorum,
et firmamentum in plaga eorum.
5 In labore hominum non sunt,
et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.
6 Ideo tenuit eos superbia;
operti sunt iniquitate et impietate sua.
7 Prodiit quasi ex adipe iniquitas eorum;
transierunt in affectum cordis.
8 Cogitaverunt et locuti sunt nequitiam;
iniquitatem in excelso locuti sunt.
9 Posuerunt in cælum os suum,
et lingua eorum transivit in terra.
10 Ideo convertetur populus meus hic,
et dies pleni invenientur in eis.
11 Et dixerunt: Quomodo scit Deus,
et si est scientia in excelso?
12 Ecce ipsi peccatores, et abundantes in sæculo
obtinuerunt divitias.
13 Et dixi: Ergo sine causa justificavi cor meum,
et lavi inter innocentes manus meas,
14 et fui flagellatus tota die,
et castigatio mea in matutinis.
15 Si dicebam: Narrabo sic;
ecce nationem filiorum tuorum reprobavi.
16 Existimabam ut cognoscerem hoc;
labor est ante me:
17 donec intrem in sanctuarium Dei,
et intelligam in novissimis eorum.
18 Verumtamen propter dolos posuisti eis;
dejecisti eos dum allevarentur.
19 Quomodo facti sunt in desolationem?
subito defecerunt: perierunt propter iniquitatem suam.
20 Velut somnium surgentium, Domine,
in civitate tua imaginem ipsorum ad nihilum rediges.
21 Quia inflammatum est cor meum,
et renes mei commutati sunt;
22 et ego ad nihilum redactus sum, et nescivi:
23 ut jumentum factus sum apud te,
et ego semper tecum.
24 Tenuisti manum dexteram meam,
et in voluntate tua deduxisti me,
et cum gloria suscepisti me.
25 Quid enim mihi est in cælo?
et a te quid volui super terram?
26 Defecit caro mea et cor meum;
Deus cordis mei, et pars mea, Deus in æternum.
27 Quia ecce qui elongant se a te peribunt;
perdidisti omnes qui fornicantur abs te.
28 Mihi autem adhærere Deo bonum est;
ponere in Domino Deo spem meam:
ut annuntiem omnes prædicationes tuas
in portis filiæ Sion.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition