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Gustave Doré’s engraving of David standing crowned and bowed as he mourns Absalom

Psalm 73

What St Athanasius said to pray when the ungodly prosper and good people suffer, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 28Verses
  • 2Situations

St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus

When to pray it

In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. He named this one more than once.

People who don't care about God are doing fine, good people are suffering, and it's shaking you.

When you see the ungodly living in peace and plenty, just as they please, and the righteous suffering, say Psalm 73, so that you are not caught out and shaken.

Letter to Marcellinus

You've come close to losing your footing, and you're honest enough to admit it.

Sing the Psalms, and whatever in you has slipped comes to admit it, as you say with Psalm 73: "my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped."

Letter to Marcellinus

Psalm 73:17

Where it turns

until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.

28 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 73

Its own heading A Psalm of Asaph.

  1. 1Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
  2. 2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.
  3. 3For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
  4. 4They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.
  5. 5They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men.
  6. 6Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them.
  7. 7From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.
  8. 8They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.
  9. 9They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth.
  10. 10So their people return to this place and drink up waters in abundance.
  11. 11The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”
  12. 12Behold, these are the wicked— always carefree as they increase their wealth.
  13. 13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.
  14. 14For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.
  15. 15If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children.
  16. 16When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight
  17. 17until I entered God’s sanctuary; then I discerned their end.
  18. 18Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
  19. 19How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
  20. 20Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
  21. 21When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,
  22. 22I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
  23. 23Yet I am always with You; You hold my right hand.
  24. 24You guide me with Your counsel, and later receive me in glory.
  25. 25Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You.
  26. 26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
  27. 27Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.
  28. 28But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.

Psalm 73 is 72 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.

When the world seems upside down

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Your turn

Which Psalm are you living right now?

A few honest taps about your life right now, and the psalm an early Church Father gave for exactly that.

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Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.