When it is said
Anyone may pray it, at any hour. This page gives six verses near the end of Psalm 73.
Earlier in the psalm, Asaph tells how his feet almost slipped. He envied the arrogant when he saw them prosper. Trying to make sense of it was too painful for him. Then he went into God’s sanctuary and understood their end.
In the Greek Psalter that the Orthodox Church uses, it is Psalm 72.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Who was Asaph?
Psalm 73’s heading reads “A Psalm of Asaph”. The First Book of Chronicles tells how the ark of God, the sacred chest of the covenant, was set in the tent King David had pitched for it. There, men of the tribe of Levi were appointed to thank and praise God, with Asaph as their chief.
The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre; 1 Chronicles 16:1-5, King James Version (Project Gutenberg)
St Athanasius’s advice
St Athanasius of Alexandria, who died in AD 373, wrote a letter on how to pray the psalms. When you see the ungodly living in peace and plenty while the righteous suffer, he wrote, say Psalm 73. Then you will not stumble or waver.
What the words mean
“My portion”
God told Aaron the priest that he would own no share of the land among the people of Israel: “I am thy part and thine inheritance.” So when the psalm calls God “my portion”, it means: God is my share, and I need no other.
Grieved, or in a ferment?
Two old translations put the prayer’s first line two ways. The King James Version says “my heart was grieved”. The Jewish Publication Society’s version of 1917 says “my heart was in a ferment”. This page says it “grew bitter”: a heart gone sour.
The King James Version (Project Gutenberg); Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre
The Scripture in it
When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You. Yet I am always with You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me in glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.