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II

13 Is it in vain that I have kept my heart pure,
    washed my hands in innocence?(A)
14 For I am afflicted day after day,
    chastised every morning.
15 Had I thought, “I will speak as they do,”
    I would have betrayed this generation of your children.
16 Though I tried to understand all this,
    it was too difficult for me,
17 Till I entered the sanctuary of God
    and came to understand their end.[a]

III

18 You set them, indeed, on a slippery road;
    you hurl them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly they are devastated;
    utterly undone by disaster!
20 They are like a dream after waking, Lord,
    dismissed like shadows when you arise.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 73:17 And came to understand their end: the psalmist receives a double revelation in the Temple: 1) the end of the wicked comes unexpectedly (Ps 73:18–20); 2) God is with me.

13 Surely in vain(A) I have kept my heart pure
    and have washed my hands in innocence.(B)
14 All day long I have been afflicted,(C)
    and every morning brings new punishments.

15 If I had spoken out like that,
    I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand(D) all this,
    it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary(E) of God;
    then I understood their final destiny.(F)

18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;(G)
    you cast them down to ruin.(H)
19 How suddenly(I) are they destroyed,
    completely swept away(J) by terrors!
20 They are like a dream(K) when one awakes;(L)
    when you arise, Lord,
    you will despise them as fantasies.(M)

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