Twenty eight verses by Asaph, and the psalm that opens Book Three of the Psalter. It states its conclusion in the first line and then spends fifteen verses arguing against it: the wicked are comfortable, they die without pain, and the speaker who kept his hands clean is beaten every morning. The argument does not get answered by an argument. It gets answered by a place, in verse 17. For a learner the thing to track is one small word, the particle at אַךְ (ach, v.1), which returns at אַךְ (ach, v.13) and אַךְ (ach, v.18): three times someone says surely, and each time it introduces a different certainty, the last two contradicting the first.
1
מִזְמוֹר לְאָסָף
אַךְ טוֹב לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלֹהִים לְבָרֵי לֵבָב
לְיִשְׂרָאֵל
lyis-ra-EL
to Israel
לְבָרֵי
le-va-REI
to the pure of
Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure of heart.
The verdict comes first, before any of the evidence. Read it again after verse 16 and it sounds like a man repeating something he was taught.
2
וַאֲנִי כִּמְעַט נָטָיוּ רַגְלָי
כְּאַיִן שֻׁפְּכוּ אֲשֻׁרָי
וַאֲנִי
va-a-NI
but as for me
נָטָיוּ
na-tai-U
they turned aside
But as for me, my feet had almost turned aside,
כְּאַיִן
ke-A-yin
as good as nothing
שֻׁפְּכוּ
shup-CHU
they were poured out
אֲשֻׁרָי
a-shu-RAI
my steps
my steps had all but been poured out from under me.
The crisis is described as a loss of footing, not a loss of belief. Nothing here is doubted yet; the ground is just gone.
3
כִּי קִנֵּאתִי בַּהוֹלְלִים
שְׁלוֹם רְשָׁעִים אֶרְאֶה
קִנֵּאתִי
ki-ne-TI
I was envious
בַּהוֹלְלִים
ba-hol-LIM
of the boastful
For I envied the boastful,
שְׁלוֹם
shlom
the well-being of
רְשָׁעִים
re-sha-IM
wicked ones
when I kept seeing how well the wicked do.
The verb of seeing is imperfect, so it is not one glance but a habit of looking. Envy is named as the cause before the grievance is stated.
4
כִּי אֵין חַרְצֻבּוֹת לְמוֹתָם
וּבָרִיא אוּלָם
חַרְצֻבּוֹת
char-tzu-BOT
pangs
לְמוֹתָם
le-mo-TAM
at their death
For they have no pangs at their death,
וּבָרִיא
u-va-RI
and sound is
and their body is sound and fat.
The complaint starts at the end of a life rather than at the middle of it. Even dying costs them nothing, which is the part that stings.
5
בַּעֲמַל אֱנוֹשׁ אֵינֵמוֹ
וְעִם אָדָם לֹא יְנֻגָּעוּ
בַּעֲמַל
ba-a-MAL
in the trouble of
אֵינֵמוֹ
ei-ne-MO
they are not
They are not in the trouble that mortals have,
יְנֻגָּעוּ
ye-nu-ga-U
are they stricken
and they are not struck down along with everyone else.
Two words for a human being in one verse, both of them stressing weakness. The wicked are exempt from the category.
6
לָכֵן עֲנָקַתְמוֹ גַאֲוָה
יַעֲטָף שִׁית חָמָס לָמוֹ
עֲנָקַתְמוֹ
a-na-kat-MO
it collars them
So pride is the chain around their throat,
יַעֲטָף
ya-a-TAF
it enwraps
and violence is the robe that wraps them.
Both images are clothing, and both are worn on purpose. What they did in private in verse 5 is now what they put on to be seen in.
7
יָצָא מֵחֵלֶב עֵינֵמוֹ
עָבְרוּ מַשְׂכִּיּוֹת לֵבָב
מֵחֵלֶב
me-CHE-lev
from fat
עֵינֵמוֹ
ei-ne-MO
their eye
Their eye bulges out of its fat,
עָבְרוּ
av-RU
they have overflowed
מַשְׂכִּיּוֹת
mas-ki-YOT
the imaginings of
the imaginings of the heart overflow.
Fat is prosperity made physical, and here it pushes the eye forward until the man cannot see past himself. The heart follows the eye.
8
יָמִיקוּ וִידַבְּרוּ בְרָע
עֹשֶׁק מִמָּרוֹם יְדַבֵּרוּ
יָמִיקוּ
ya-mi-KU
they scoff
וִידַבְּרוּ
vi-dab-RU
and they speak
They scoff, and they talk with malice,
מִמָּרוֹם
mi-ma-ROM
from on high
יְדַבֵּרוּ
ye-da-be-RU
they speak
they speak oppression from a great height.
The verb for speaking is used twice in six words. Their power is exercised through the mouth, which is what the next verse enlarges.
9
שַׁתּוּ בַשָּׁמַיִם פִּיהֶם
וּלְשׁוֹנָם תִּהֲלַךְ בָּאָרֶץ
שַׁתּוּ
sha-TU
they have set
בַשָּׁמַיִם
va-sha-MA-yim
against the heavens
They have set their mouth against the heavens,
וּלְשׁוֹנָם
ul-sho-NAM
and their tongue
תִּהֲלַךְ
ti-ha-LACH
it walks about
בָּאָרֶץ
ba-A-retz
in the earth
and their tongue struts about the earth.
Heaven and earth divided between one mouth and one tongue. The picture is of speech that has taken over the whole map.
10
לָכֵן יָשׁוּב עַמּוֹ הֲלֹם
וּמֵי מָלֵא יִמָּצוּ לָמוֹ
יָשׁוּב
ya-SHUV
it turns back
So his people turn back here,
יִמָּצוּ
yi-ma-TZU
they are drained
and waters of abundance are drained dry for them.
The hardest verse in the psalm and the one where translations part company. Something about a crowd going over to the winning side, and something about water.
11
וְאָמְרוּ אֵיכָה יָדַע אֵל
וְיֵשׁ דֵּעָה בְעֶלְיוֹן
וְאָמְרוּ
ve-am-RU
and they say
And they say: how would God know?
וְיֵשׁ
ve-YESH
and is there
בְעֶלְיוֹן
ve-eli-ON
in the Most High
Is there knowledge in the Most High?
The quotation is the centre of the indictment. They do not deny that God exists; they deny that God is informed.
12
הִנֵּה אֵלֶּה רְשָׁעִים
וְשַׁלְוֵי עוֹלָם הִשְׂגּוּ חָיִל
רְשָׁעִים
re-sha-IM
are wicked ones
Look at them: these are the wicked,
וְשַׁלְוֵי
ve-shal-VEI
and at ease of
הִשְׂגּוּ
his-GU
they have increased
always at ease, and they keep piling up wealth.
The survey closes by pointing. Everything catalogued since verse 4 is gathered into one gesture and one balance sheet.
13
אַךְ רִיק זִכִּיתִי לְבָבִי
וָאֶרְחַץ בְּנִקָּיוֹן כַּפָּי
זִכִּיתִי
zi-ki-TI
I have kept clean
So I have kept my heart clean for nothing,
וָאֶרְחַץ
va-er-CHATZ
and I washed
בְּנִקָּיוֹן
bni-kai-ON
in innocence
and washed my hands in innocence for nothing.
The second surely, and it cancels the first. Washed hands are priestly language, so the accusation is that the whole apparatus of purity paid nothing.
14
וָאֱהִי נָגוּעַ כׇּל הַיּוֹם
וְתוֹכַחְתִּי לַבְּקָרִים
וָאֱהִי
va-e-HI
and I have been
For I have been stricken all day long,
וְתוֹכַחְתִּי
ve-to-chach-TI
and my chastisement
לַבְּקָרִים
lab-ka-RIM
is for the mornings
and my punishment arrives every morning.
The same root that verse 5 said never touches the wicked. He is inside the category they escape, and on a daily schedule.
15
אִם אָמַרְתִּי אֲסַפְּרָה כְמוֹ
הִנֵּה דוֹר בָּנֶיךָ בָגָדְתִּי
אָמַרְתִּי
a-mar-TI
I had said
אֲסַפְּרָה
a-sap-RA
let me tell it
If I had said: I will talk like that,
בָּנֶיךָ
ba-nei-CHA
Your children
בָגָדְתִּי
va-gad-TI
I would have betrayed
then I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
The first word addressed to God, and it is about other people. What stops him is not that the complaint is false but that saying it aloud would break something.
16
וָאֲחַשְּׁבָה לָדַעַת זֹאת
עָמָל הוּא בְעֵינָי
וָאֲחַשְּׁבָה
va-a-chash-VA
and I thought hard
And I thought hard, to understand this;
בְעֵינָי
ve-ei-NAI
in my eyes
it was heavy labour in my eyes.
Thinking is tried and it fails. The word for the labour is the same word verse 5 used for the trouble the wicked never have.
17
עַד אָבוֹא אֶל מִקְדְּשֵׁי אֵל
אָבִינָה לְאַחֲרִיתָם
מִקְדְּשֵׁי
mik-de-SHEI
the sanctuaries of
until I came into the sanctuaries of God;
אָבִינָה
a-vi-NA
let me understand
לְאַחֲרִיתָם
le-a-cha-ri-TAM
their end
then I understood what their end would be.
The hinge of the psalm, and the answer is a location rather than a proof. The noun is plural, which readers have taken in more than one way.
18
אַךְ בַּחֲלָקוֹת תָּשִׁית לָמוֹ
הִפַּלְתָּם לְמַשּׁוּאוֹת
בַּחֲלָקוֹת
ba-cha-la-KOT
on slippery places
Surely You set them on slippery ground,
הִפַּלְתָּם
hi-pal-TAM
You made them fall
לְמַשּׁוּאוֹת
le-ma-shu-OT
into ruins
You made them fall into ruins.
The third surely, and the grammar changes with it: from here on the psalm is addressed to God in the second person and never goes back.
19
אֵיךְ הָיוּ לְשַׁמָּה כְרָגַע
סָפוּ תַמּוּ מִן בַּלָּהוֹת
הָיוּ
hai-U
they have become
לְשַׁמָּה
le-sha-MA
a desolation
כְרָגַע
CHRA-ga
in a moment
How they became a desolation in an instant,
סָפוּ
sa-FU
they are swept away
תַמּוּ
ta-MU
they are finished
בַּלָּהוֹת
ba-la-HOT
terrors
swept off, finished by terrors.
Four verbs of ending stacked with no conjunctions between the last two. The speed is the point: what took the psalm sixteen verses to envy takes one word to undo.
20
כַּחֲלוֹם מֵהָקִיץ אֲדֹנָי
בָּעִיר צַלְמָם תִּבְזֶה
כַּחֲלוֹם
ka-cha-LOM
like a dream
מֵהָקִיץ
me-ha-KITZ
after waking
Like a dream once a man is awake, my Lord,
בָּעִיר
ba-IR
when You rouse Yourself
צַלְמָם
tzal-MAM
their phantom
תִּבְזֶה
tiv-ZE
You will despise
when You rouse Yourself You will despise their phantom.
The wicked are not destroyed here, they are reclassified: they were never solid enough to destroy. The word for their form is the one used for an image or a likeness.
21
כִּי יִתְחַמֵּץ לְבָבִי
וְכִלְיוֹתַי אֶשְׁתּוֹנָן
יִתְחַמֵּץ
yit-cha-METZ
it turns sour
When my heart was turning sour,
וְכִלְיוֹתַי
ve-chil-o-TAI
and in my kidneys
אֶשְׁתּוֹנָן
esh-to-NAN
I was pierced
and I felt it pierce my kidneys,
The psalm goes back to the crisis in order to name it properly. The verb is the one used of dough going acid, and the kidneys are where the biblical body keeps its conscience.
22
וַאֲנִי בַעַר וְלֹא אֵדָע
בְּהֵמוֹת הָיִיתִי עִמָּךְ
I was a brute and I knew nothing,
בְּהֵמוֹת
be-he-MOT
a beast
I was a beast in Your presence.
The self-assessment is harsher than anything he said about the wicked. Note the last word: even as a beast he was with God, which is exactly what the next verse picks up.
23
וַאֲנִי תָמִיד עִמָּךְ
אָחַזְתָּ בְּיַד יְמִינִי
Yet I am always with You;
אָחַזְתָּ
a-chaz-TA
You have taken hold
You have taken hold of my right hand.
The same two words that ended verse 22 open this one, and the meaning flips. Being with God was the beast's condition and is now the man's security.
24
בַּעֲצָתְךָ תַנְחֵנִי
וְאַחַר כָּבוֹד תִּקָּחֵנִי
בַּעֲצָתְךָ
ba-a-tzat-CHA
with Your counsel
תַנְחֵנִי
tan-che-NI
You guide me
You guide me with Your counsel,
וְאַחַר
ve-a-CHAR
and afterward
תִּקָּחֵנִי
ti-ka-che-NI
You will take me
and afterward You will take me to glory.
Two words, afterward and glory, sitting next to each other with no preposition to say how they connect. That gap is where a great deal of later reading happens.
25
מִי לִי בַשָּׁמָיִם
וְעִמְּךָ לֹא חָפַצְתִּי בָאָרֶץ
בַשָּׁמָיִם
va-sha-ma-YIM
in the heavens
Whom do I have in heaven?
וְעִמְּךָ
ve-im-CHA
and with You
חָפַצְתִּי
cha-fatz-TI
do I desire
And with You beside me I want nothing on earth.
Heaven and earth again, the pair from verse 9, now emptied of everything except one presence. The mouth that filled both is not mentioned.
26
כָּלָה שְׁאֵרִי וּלְבָבִי
צוּר לְבָבִי וְחֶלְקִי אֱלֹהִים לְעוֹלָם
וּלְבָבִי
ul-va-VI
and my heart
My flesh and my heart give out,
וְחֶלְקִי
ve-chel-KI
and my portion
but the rock of my heart and my portion is God, forever.
The word heart appears twice in one line, once failing and once held up. Portion is land language: what the Levites were given instead of a field.
27
כִּי הִנֵּה רְחֵקֶיךָ יֹאבֵדוּ
הִצְמַתָּה כׇּל זוֹנֶה מִמֶּךָּ
רְחֵקֶיךָ
re-che-kei-CHA
those far from You
יֹאבֵדוּ
yo-ve-DU
they will perish
For look: those far from You will perish;
הִצְמַתָּה
hitz-ma-TA
You have put an end to
זוֹנֶה
zo-NE
one who whores away
You put an end to everyone who strays from You.
Distance is the only category left. The wicked of verse 3 are not defined by their wealth here but by how far away they stand.
28
וַאֲנִי קִרְבַת אֱלֹהִים לִי טוֹב
שַׁתִּי בַּאדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה מַחְסִי
לְסַפֵּר כׇּל מַלְאֲכוֹתֶיךָ
וַאֲנִי
va-a-NI
but as for me
קִרְבַת
kir-VAT
the nearness of
But as for me, nearness to God is my good;
בַּאדֹנָי
ba-do-NAI
in the Lord
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
לְסַפֵּר
le-sa-PER
to recount
מַלְאֲכוֹתֶיךָ
mal-a-cho-tei-CHA
Your works
so that I can recount everything You do.
The word good comes back from verse 1, and the psalm ends by redefining it. Good is no longer an outcome that can be compared with someone else's; it is proximity.
♦ PARDES analysis: פרדס
The four levels of Jewish reading of the sacred text: פשט Peshat (literal meaning), רמז Remez (symbolic allusion), דרש Drash (midrashic interpretation), סוד Sod (mystical meaning). The word פרדס means "orchard", each level is a fruit.
פשט · Peshat: literal meaning
One thesis, one long objection, one turn, one resolution. Verse 1 states the conclusion. Verses 2 to 16 dismantle it with a catalogue: the wicked die easily, dress in pride, speak against heaven, and get richer, while the man who kept himself clean is punished daily. Verse 17 is the turn, and what changes is not the evidence but the vantage point. From verse 18 the psalm speaks to God rather than about him, and it never returns to the third person. The last movement, verses 21 to 28, rereads the crisis: the speaker calls himself a beast, discovers that even the beast was being held by the hand, and ends by putting the word good from verse 1 back in place with a new meaning. Track the phrase but as for me at וַאֲנִי (va-a-ni, v.2) and again at וַאֲנִי (va-a-ni, v.28). It opens the complaint and it closes the answer, and the two sentences it introduces are opposites.
רמז · Remez: allusion
This psalm carries an unusual number of cruxes, and a learner should know which are real. In verse 1 the consonants of the word for to Israel can be divided differently to give to the upright, which yields God is good to the upright rather than to Israel. That division is a conjecture; the received text and the vocalisation both read Israel, and the reading is disputed. Verse 4 has the same kind of problem: לְמוֹתָם (le-mo-tam, v.4), at their death, can be re-divided to attach its last syllable to the following clause, giving they have no pangs, sound and fat is their body. Verse 10 is genuinely obscure, and published translations differ from each other more than they differ from the Hebrew. At בָּעִיר (ba-ir, v.20) the consonants are read by some as in the city and by others as when You rouse Yourself, from the root for waking, which is the reading the dream in the same verse supports. In verse 22 the word for beast is a plural form used for a single animal, which is why some render it a great brute. The verb at תִּקָּחֵנִי (ti-ka-che-ni, v.24) is the ordinary verb to take, and it is also the verb used of Enoch in Genesis 5 and of Elijah in 2 Kings 2, which is why the line has been read as more than a promise of guidance.
דרש · Drash: midrashic reading
Psalm 73 opens Book Three of the Psalter and heads the block of Asaph psalms, so its placement puts a crisis of theodicy where a reader expects a hymn. Later readers took the plural at מִקְדְּשֵׁי (mik-de-shei, v.17), the sanctuaries, to mean more than a building, and the word for their end in the same verse carries in later Hebrew the sense of what comes after, so that the answer given in the sanctuary is understood as a view past the edge of a lifetime. On that reading verses 24 to 26 are not about consolation in old age but about what survives it, and the flesh failing in verse 26 is allowed to fail. There is a quieter reading that stays inside this life: what the sanctuary supplies is not information about the future but company in the present, and the proof is verse 23, where the hand was already being held during the years the speaker calls himself a beast. Both readings are current. Verse 15 is the ethical hinge of the whole thing: the speaker does not conclude that his complaint was wrong, only that broadcasting it would have injured people who had done nothing, and that judgement is made before he has any answer at all.
סוד · Sod: mystical reading
Read inwardly, the psalm is about the two things a person can take as a measure. The wicked are measured from outside, by fat, clothing, wealth and the absence of pain, and the mystical reading takes the eye pushed forward by fat in verse 7 as the exact image of a consciousness that can no longer see anything but its own surface. Against that, verse 26 sets an inner measure and calls it the rock of my heart, a phrase in which the heart has a foundation that is not the heart. The beast of verse 22 is read as the animal soul, the part of a person that is entirely honest about wanting what the wicked have, and the psalm does not kill it; it discovers that it too was being held by the right hand, which is the side of kindness. The last word of the whole argument is nearness, at קִרְבַת (kir-vat, v.28), a noun built from the verb to draw close: not a reward for the pure of heart, but the definition of what good was in verse 1 all along.