Truly God is loving unto Israel,
even unto such as are of a clean heart.
Nevertheless,
my feet were almost gone;
my
treadings had well-nigh slipped.
And why? I was grieved at
the wicked;
I do also see the ungodly in such prosperity.
For
they are in no peril of death,
but are lusty and strong.
They
come in no misfortune like other folk;
neither are they
plagued like other men.
And this is the cause that they are so
holden with pride,
and overwhelmed with cruelty.
Their eyes
swell with fatness,
and they do even what they lust.
They corrupt
others, and speak of wicked blasphemy;
their talking is
against the Most High.
For they stretch forth their mouth
unto the heaven,
and their tongue goeth through the world.
Therefore fall the people unto them,
and thereout suck
they no small advantage.
Tush, say they, how should God
perceive it? ,
Is there knowledge in the Most High? ,
Lo,
these
are the ungodly,
these prosper in the world, and these have
riches in possession;
and I said,
Then have I cleansed my
heart in vain,
and washed my hands in innocency.
All the day
long have I been punished,
and chastened every morning.
Yea,
and I had almost said even as they;
but lo,
then I should
have condemned the generation of thy children.
Then thought I to understand this;
but it was too hard for
me,
until I went into the sanctuary of God.
Then understood
I the end of these men,
namely, how thou dost set them in
slippery places,
and castest them down,
and destroyest them.
O how suddenly do they consume,
perish,
and come to a
fearful end! Yea,
even like as a dream when one awaketh,
so
shalt thou make their image to vanish out of the city.
Thus
my heart was grieved,
and it went even through my reins.
So
foolish was I,
and ignorant,
even as it were a beast before
thee.
Nevertheless,
I am always by thee;
for thou hast holden
me by my right hand.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,
and after that receive me with glory.
Whom have I in heaven
but thee? ,
And there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth;
but God is the
strength of my heart,
and my portion for ever.
For lo,
they that forsake thee shall perish;
thou hast destroyed
all them that commit fornication against thee.
But it
is good for me to hold me fast by God,
to put my trust in the
Lord God,
and to speak of all thy works in the gates of the
daughter of Sion.