Psalm 73 is brutally honest about envy. The Psalmist nearly slips because the wicked seem peaceful and wealthy, while he is plagued day after day and reproved each morning. Yet Brenton does not describe the wicked as untouched by every affliction: they appear firm even under it, and show no sign of reluctance in death. The turning point comes in the sanctuary of God.
Why do arrogant people prosper while the faithful suffer? The Psalm’s answer is not a slogan. It brings the question into worship, looks toward God’s judgment, confesses a distorted vision, and discovers that God Himself is the believer’s portion.
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 73 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 72 |
| Accepted author | The superscription says, “A Psalm for Asaph.” Chronicles associates Asaph with worship and prophecy, without settling the Psalm’s individual authorship or date. |
| Period in author’s life | No precise episode is named. The Psalm brings a spiritual crisis into the sanctuary. |
| Christ prophecy status | Ecclesial and Christological, not a narrow prediction. In Christ the Church finds the One who reveals the end and gives Himself as the believer’s inheritance. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | Consulted annual Matins and Liturgy references include printed Psalm 73:23, 24, and 28 on a number of dates. |
| Numbering issue | The embedded Scripture is Brenton LXX Psalm 72. The annual service references discussed below print Psalm 73. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 73 opens Book III of the Psalter in the Hebrew ordering and begins a series associated with Asaph. In Chronicles, Asaph is a leader of praise, and his words are associated with prophetic worship (1 Chronicles 16:5; 2 Chronicles 29:30). The superscription connects this Psalm with him; it does not tell us the circumstances in which it was composed.
The Psalm belongs beside Job 21, Jeremiah 12:1, and Habakkuk 1. Scripture gives the faithful room to ask why evil flourishes and the innocent suffer. It does not treat the question itself as a failure of faith.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The key place is the sanctuary. The Psalmist has been looking at the visible success of the wicked. In the place of God’s presence and worship, he begins to see that their present success is not the whole story.
The Characters 👥
Asaph / the Psalmist. The Psalm speaks in an Asaphite voice that nearly slips. Its honesty lets us follow the movement from confusion to trust.
The prosperous wicked. They appear secure, but their prosperity is joined to pride, injustice, and contempt.
The people of God. The Psalmist fears betraying “the generation of thy children.” His question belongs within a community, and he cares how his words will affect it.
God. He is the sanctuary’s light, the guide who holds the right hand, and the final portion of the heart.
🕯️ Light from the Word
The displayed verses follow Brenton’s English Septuagint and retain its Psalm 72 labels.
Psalm 73:1-12 (LXX Psalm 72:1-12), the scandal of the prosperous wicked
72:1 A Psalm for Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to the upright in heart! 72:2 But my feet were almost overthrown; my goings very nearly slipped. 72:3 For I was jealous of the transgressors, beholding the tranquillity of sinners. 72:4 For there is no sign of reluctance in their death: and they have firmness under their affliction. 72:5 They are not in the troubles of other men; and they shall not be scourged with other men. 72:6 Therefore pride has possessed them; they have clothed themselves with their injustice and ungodliness. 72:7 Their injustice shall go forth as out of fatness: they have fulfilled their intention. 72:8 They have taken counsel and spoken in wickedness: they have uttered unrighteousness loftily. 72:9 They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has gone through upon the earth. 72:10 Therefore shall my people return hither: and full days shall be found with them. 72:11 And they said, How does God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? 72:12 Behold, these are the sinners, and they that prosper always: they have possessed wealth.
The Psalm begins with faith in God’s goodness, then immediately admits instability: “But my feet were almost overthrown; my goings very nearly slipped.” The Psalmist does not deny what he believes, but what he sees has shaken him.
In Brenton’s verse 4, the wicked seem untroubled even at death and remain firm under affliction. Verse 5 adds that they appear exempt from the troubles common to others. The picture is not simply that they never suffer; it is that suffering does not seem to disturb their security as it disturbs his.
Their pride becomes a garment of injustice, and their speech reaches from earth toward heaven. This is not a condemnation of wealth by itself. The scandal is the apparent success of arrogance and wrongdoing. The difficult verse 10 speaks of the people returning and of “full days,” though the precise relationship between the people and that image is not made clear.
Envy begins to make the righteous life look pointless. St Athanasius of Alexandria recommends praying this very Psalm when the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the good trouble us.1 The scandal need not be carried away from God; it can be brought before Him.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “what he sees has shaken him”; “envy makes the righteous life seem pointless.”
- Emphasize: the Psalm’s honesty about spiritual disorientation.
- Avoid: giving a quick answer before the Psalm reaches the sanctuary.
Psalm 73:13-17 (LXX Psalm 72:13-17), the question brought into worship
72:13 And I said, Verily in vain have I justified my heart, and washed my hands in innocency. 72:14 For I was plagued all the day, and my reproof was every morning. 72:15 If I said, I will speak thus; behold, I should have broken covenant with the generation of thy children. 72:16 And I undertook to understand this, but it is too hard for me, 72:17 until I go into the sanctuary of God; and so understand the latter end.
The Psalmist says what many faithful people have felt: “And I said, Verily in vain have I justified my heart, and washed my hands in innocency.” His own experience of being plagued and reproved makes the question painful. It does not give us permission to diagnose every person’s suffering as punishment for sin.
He pauses because he belongs to the generation of God’s children. There is a difference between bringing a desperate question into prayer or sharing it with someone trustworthy, and teaching as a settled truth that faithfulness is futile. The first is not a betrayal. The Psalm itself gives the question room.
St Augustine of Hippo, a witness from the wider Christian tradition, sees the sanctuary as the place where the Psalmist learns to look beyond present appearances toward the end: “I, he says, from the Sanctuary of God stretch out my eye unto the end, I pass over present things.”2 Worship does not erase the question. It changes the field of vision.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “honest questions belong in prayer”; “worship changes the field of vision.”
- Emphasize: the sanctuary is the turning point, not an optional devotional detail.
- Avoid: shaming honest questions. The Psalm itself gives the question room.
Psalm 73:18-22 (LXX Psalm 72:18-22), the end of envy and the repentance of the heart
72:18 Surely thou hast appointed judgments to them because of their crafty dealings: thou hast cast them down when they were lifted up. 72:19 How have they become desolate! suddenly they have failed: they have perished because of their iniquity. 72:20 As the dream of one awakening, O Lord, in thy city thou wilt despise their image. 72:21 For my heart has rejoiced, and my reins have been gladdened. 72:22 But I was vile and knew not: I became brutish before thee.
The sanctuary reveals the end. The wicked are not as secure as they looked. Their image is like a dream that fades on waking. Judgment belongs to God; the Psalm gives us no reason to enjoy another person’s destruction.
In Brenton’s verse 21, the heart rejoices and the “reins” are gladdened. “Reins” is an old expression for the inward self, the depths of feeling and desire. The joy stands beside the admission, “But I was vile and knew not: I became brutish before thee.” Augustine, commenting on his own Psalm wording, considers both delight in passing things and delight in God as possibilities.3 The precise sequence need not be forced: the Psalmist acknowledges how little he had understood.
That confession is not self-hatred. It is clarity. Envy had made him less than himself, narrowing his vision to comparison and resentment. Standing before God, he can name that folly without pretending that his suffering was unreal.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “envy had made him less than himself”; “the cure is to stand before God until reality is seen truthfully.”
- Emphasize: repentance for distorted vision.
- Avoid: describing the wicked’s end with vindictive pleasure.
Psalm 73:23-28 (LXX Psalm 72:23-28), God as portion forever
72:23 Yet I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand. 72:24 Thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and thou hast taken me to thyself with glory. 72:25 For what have I in heaven but thee? and what have I desired upon the earth beside thee? 72:26 My heart and my flesh have failed: but God is the strength of my heart, and God is my portion for ever. 72:27 For, behold, they that remove themselves far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed every one that goes a whoring from thee. 72:28 But it is good for me to cleave close to God, to put my trust in the Lord; that I may proclaim all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.
The Psalm reaches its healing here: “Yet I am continually with thee: thou hast holden my right hand.” It began with feet almost slipping. Now the Psalmist discovers that God had been holding him through the crisis.
Augustine hears in the word portion an inheritance greater than anything that can be possessed for a time: “Not for a time my portion; but my portion is my God for everlasting.”4 The wicked may have wealth, image, and applause. The faithful have God.
This is not a consolation prize. It is the heart of salvation. “For what have I in heaven but thee?” means that even heaven is not chiefly desirable apart from God. The saints do not desire a reward detached from the Rewarder. They desire communion.
The stark image of unfaithfulness in verse 27 describes turning away from God. Against it, the Psalm places the goodness of cleaving close to Him. In Christ, nearness is not an abstraction: the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11). When heart and flesh fail, our hope rests not in our own unshaken grip, but in God’s mercy.
The final line turns personal healing into proclamation: “that I may proclaim all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion.” The one who almost slipped becomes a witness.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “God had been holding him even through the crisis”; “the faithful have God.”
- Emphasize: God Himself is the inheritance, not merely the giver of better circumstances.
- Avoid: presenting faith as a technique for getting the same prosperity the wicked have.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
The consulted annual references return to the Psalm’s movement toward nearness and trust. In the retained reading for Toba 2, January 11, 2020, Matins prints Psalm 73:23, 24, and 28, together with Psalm 9:14, before John 15:17-25.5 The Gospel speaks of Christ’s command to love one another amid the world’s hatred. The Psalm places God’s holding hand beside the life of disciples who may suffer.
That Matins selection begins with the hand being held, corresponding to the second half of Brenton Psalm 72:23. Its guidance and reception into glory are expressed in the future, while Brenton’s verse 24 speaks of what God has done. The printed Psalm 9:14 label includes praise at the gates of the daughter of Zion, corresponding by its words to Brenton Psalm 9:15. The labels alone do not establish identical wording or endpoints in every service selection.
In the retained Liturgy reading for Tout 13, September 23, 2022, printed Psalm 73:23, 24, and 28 accompanies John 10:1-16.6 The hand that holds the Psalmist may be heard beside the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the flock. The appointed verses speak of guidance and nearness; the whole Psalm names what that nearness means: God Himself is the believer’s portion.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 73 resonates with icons of the saints more than with images of worldly victory. Their witness points beyond outward success to communion with God. It also resonates with icons of the Last Judgment, where present appearances are set before God’s truth.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
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Name envy before it becomes theology. The Psalmist nearly builds a false account of life with God out of jealousy. Bring envy honestly to confession.
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Take hard questions into the sanctuary. Prayer and worship give us a place to speak before God without pretending that injustice is easy to understand.
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Speak honestly and responsibly with younger believers. Questions need not be hidden. Help them bring those questions to God rather than teaching that faithfulness is futile.
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Let God be the portion of the heart. This is not because life is easy or because suffering is unreal, but because communion with Him is worth more than the prosperity envy admires.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 8 minutes for context, 30 minutes for the four text units, 10 minutes for lectionary and iconography, 10 minutes for spiritual fruit.
- Where to linger: Psalm 72:17 and Psalm 72:23-26.
- Where to compress: the repeated lectionary date list. Summarize the pattern rather than reading all dates.
- Pastoral warning: do not shame people for asking why the wicked prosper. The Psalm dignifies the question, then heals it.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “The saints do not desire a reward detached from the Rewarder.”
Glossary
- Asaph: A singer associated in Chronicles with the worship of Israel and named in several Psalm superscriptions.
- Sanctuary: The place of God’s presence and worship, where the Psalmist receives a view of the end.
- Reins: An older expression for the inward self, associated with deep feeling and desire.
- Portion: An inheritance or share. In Psalm 73, God Himself is the believer’s inheritance.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX), Psalm 72. The study title uses the NKJV / Masoretic number first, Psalm 73. The annual service sources discussed above print Psalm 73 for the corresponding selections; their wording is not substituted for Brenton’s.
Sources
Scripture: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 72; 1 Chronicles 16:5; 2 Chronicles 29:30; Job 21; Jeremiah 12:1; Habakkuk 1; John 10:1-16 and 15:17-25.
Patristic sources: St Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus; St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 73 in the English heading, Latin Psalm 72, sections 17, 20, and 24. For these passages the Oxford translator is T. Scratton. A. Cleveland Coxe condensed and annotated the NPNF edition under general editor Philip Schaff; the Augustine quotations above follow Kevin Knight’s New Advent revision.
Coptic lectionary: Andraws Lectionary Data, version 1.3.6, annual references and retained date-resolved CopticChurch.net readings cited below.
The specific Psalm 73 discussions in Robert Alter’s The Book of Psalms and J. Clinton McCann’s The New Interpreter’s Bible were not available for verification; no argument from them is attributed here.
Footnotes
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St Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus, recommendation of Psalm 72 for the prosperity of the wicked, fisheaters.com. The English translator is unidentified in this witness; the guide paraphrases it. ↩
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St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 73 (Latin Psalm 72), section 17, New Advent, newadvent.org. ↩
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St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 73 (Latin Psalm 72), section 20, New Advent, newadvent.org. ↩
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St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 73 (Latin Psalm 72), section 24, New Advent, newadvent.org. ↩
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CopticChurch.net, retained date-resolved reading for January 11, 2020, Toba 2, Matins: printed Psalm 73:23, 24, and 28; Psalm 9:14; and John 15:17-25. ↩
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CopticChurch.net, retained date-resolved reading for September 23, 2022, Tout 13, Liturgy: printed Psalm 73:23, 24, and 28, and John 10:1-16. ↩