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Psalm 73:23-28
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 73:23-28
New Catholic Bible
23 [a]Yet I am always with you;
you grasp me by the right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me into glory.[b]
25 Whom do I have in heaven except you?
And besides you there is nothing else I desire on earth.
26 Even should my heart and my flesh[c] fail,
God is the rock of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 [d]But all those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy those who are unfaithful to you.
28 As for me, my happiness is to be near God,
and I have made the Lord God my refuge;
I will proclaim all your works[e]
at the gates of the Daughter of Zion.
Footnotes
- Psalm 73:23 The psalmist’s experience of anguish is transformed into the joy of God’s presence and his greatness. God protects him by holding his right hand (v. 23; see Ps 63:8; Isa 41:10, 13; 42:6; Jer 31:32), by strengthening his resolve (rock, v. 26; see Ps 18:3), and by taking care of all his needs (portion, v. 26; see Ps 16:5). God gives his servant wisdom and insight (counsel) as he journeys toward everlasting glory (v. 24; see Ps 32:8).
- Psalm 73:24 Receive me into glory: is it a question here of heavenly glory? The text does not make this clear. It states that God will preserve the righteous from a brutal and premature death and rehabilitate them (see Job 19:9; 29:18; 42:7), while he despises the wicked who will suddenly disappear (v. 18f). Nothing obliges us to give the verb “receive” a stronger meaning than in Pss 18:17 (“snatched me up”) and 49:16 (“take”—see also note there) based on the assumption into heaven of Enoch (Gen 5:24; Sir 44:16) and Elijah (2 Ki 2:3; Sir 48:9). However, as in Ps 16:9f, the psalmist’s fervor and the demands of his love for God lead him to long never to be separated from him; it constitutes a stage in the explicit belief in the resurrection, attested in Dan 12:2.
- Psalm 73:26 My heart and my flesh: the whole being (see Ps 84:3). Heart: see note on Ps 4:8. Portion: as a Levite, the psalmist has the Lord for his portion (or inheritance) of the Promised Land, i.e., he lives off the tithes that the people present to the Lord (see Num 18:21-24; Deut 10:9; 18:1-8).
- Psalm 73:27 The psalmist now understands that all who are unfaithful to God must perish. Their judgment is a consequence not only of their failure to profess faith in God but also of their immoral and unjust practices.
- Psalm 73:28 I will proclaim all your works: the psalmist expresses the vow to praise the Lord’s mercies (see note on Ps 7:18). At the gates of the Daughter of Zion: this phrase is added to the final line of the Septuagint. It is taken from Ps 9:15, which may be a liturgical adaptation.
