Psalms 73:1

Book 3
(Psalms 73-89)

Psalm 73 ¹ 

A psalm by Asaph.

73:1 Certainly God is good to Israel, ² 

and to those whose motives are pure! ³ 

Proverbs 20:9

20:9 Who can say, ⁴  “I have kept my heart clean; ⁵ 

I am pure ⁶  from my sin”?

Jeremiah 13:27

13:27 People of Jerusalem, ⁷  I have seen your adulterous worship,

your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ⁸ 

I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ⁹ 

on the hills throughout the countryside.

You are doomed to destruction! ¹⁰ 

How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

Jeremiah 32:39

32:39 I will give them a single-minded purpose to live in a way that always shows respect for me. They will want to do that for ¹¹  their own good and the good of the children who descend from them.

Ezekiel 11:19

11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; ¹²  I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies ¹³  and I will give them tender hearts, ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 18:31

18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ¹⁵  Why should you die, O house of Israel?

Ezekiel 36:25-27

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ¹⁶  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ¹⁷  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ¹⁸  36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; ¹⁹  I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes ²⁰  and carefully observe my regulations. ²¹ 

Ezekiel 36:37

36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: ²²  I will multiply their people like sheep. ²³ 

Matthew 5:8

5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Acts 15:9

15:9 and he made no distinction ²⁴  between them and us, cleansing ²⁵  their hearts by faith.

Acts 15:1

The Jerusalem Council

15:1 Now some men came down from Judea ²⁶  and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised ²⁷  according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Acts 1:22

1:22 beginning from his baptism by John until the day he ²⁸  was taken up from us – one of these must become a witness of his resurrection together with us.”

[73:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 73. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist offers a personal testimony of his struggle with the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked. As he observed evil men prosper, he wondered if a godly lifestyle really pays off. In the midst of his discouragement, he reflected upon spiritual truths and realities. He was reminded that the prosperity of the wicked is only temporary. God will eventually vindicate his people.

[73:1]  ² tn Since the psalm appears to focus on an individual’s concerns, not the situation of Israel, this introduction may be a later addition designed to apply the psalm’s message to the entire community. To provide a better parallel with the next line, some emend the Hebrew phrase לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלֹהִים (lÿyisra’el ’elohim, “to Israel, God”) to אֱלֹהִים [or אֵל] לָיָּשָׁר (’elohim [or ’el] lÿyyashar, “God [is good] to the upright one”).

[73:1]  ³ tn Heb “to the pure of heart.”

[20:9]  ⁴ sn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is affirming that no one can say this because no one is pure and free of sin.

[20:9]  ⁵ tn The verb form זִכִּיתִי (zikkiti) is the Piel perfect of זָכָה (zakhah, “to be clear; to be clean; to be pure”). The verb has the idea of “be clear, justified, acquitted.” In this stem it is causative: “I have made my heart clean” (so NRSV) or “kept my heart pure” (so NIV). This would be claiming that all decisions and motives were faultless.

[20:9]  ⁶ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I am pure” (טָהֵר, taher) is a Levitical term. To claim this purity would be to claim that moral and cultic perfection had been attained and therefore one was acceptable to God in the present condition. Of course, no one can claim this; even if one thought it true, it is impossible to know all that is in the heart as God knows it.

[13:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “Jerusalem.” This word has been pulled up from the end of the verse to help make the transition. The words “people of” have been supplied in the translation here to ease the difficulty mentioned earlier of sustaining the personification throughout.

[13:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “[I have seen] your adulteries, your neighings, and your shameless prostitution.” The meanings of the metaphorical references have been incorporated in the translation for the sake of clarity for readers of all backgrounds.

[13:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “your disgusting acts.” This word is almost always used of idolatry or of the idols themselves. See BDB 1055 s.v. שִׁקֻּוּץ and Deut 29:17 and Jer 4:1; 7:30.

[13:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Woe to you!”

[32:39]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will give to them one heart and one way to [= in order that they may] fear me all the days for good to them.” The phrase “one heart” refers both to unanimity of will and accord (cf. 1 Chr 12:38 [12:39 HT]; 2 Chr 30:12) and to singleness of purpose or intent (cf. Ezek 11:19 and see BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב 4 where reference is made to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will”). The phrase “one way” refers to one way of life or conduct (cf. BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a where reference is made to moral action and character), a way of life that is further qualified by the goal of showing “fear, reverence, respect” for the Lord. The Hebrew sentence has been broken up to avoid a long complex sentence in English which is contrary to contemporary English style. However, an attempt has been made to preserve all the connections of the original.

[11:19]  ¹² tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”

[11:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “their flesh.”

[11:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “heart of flesh.”

[18:31]  ¹⁵ sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

[36:25]  ¹⁶ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.

[36:26]  ¹⁷ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is stubborn and unresponsive (see 1 Sam 25:37). In Rabbinic literature a “stone” was associated with an evil inclination (b. Sukkah 52a).

[36:26]  ¹⁸ sn That is, a heart which symbolizes a will that is responsive and obedient to God.

[36:27]  ¹⁹ tn Or “in the midst of you.” The word “you” is plural.

[36:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and I will do that which in my statutes you will walk.” The awkward syntax (verb “to do, act” + accusative sign + relative clause + prepositional phrase + second person verb) is unique, though Eccl 3:14 contains a similar construction. In the last line of that verse we read that “God acts so that (relative pronoun) they fear before him.” However, unlike Ezek 36:27, the statement has no accusative sign before the relative pronoun.

[36:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “and my laws you will guard and you will do them.” Jer 31:31-34 is parallel to this passage.

[36:37]  ²² tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”

[36:37]  ²³ sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”

[15:9]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 231 s.v. διακρίνω 1.b lists this passage under the meaning “to conclude that there is a difference, make a distinction, differentiate.”

[15:9]  ²⁵ tn Or “purifying.”

[15:1]  ²⁶ sn That is, they came down from Judea to Antioch in Syria.

[15:1]  ²⁷ tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses have “and walk” here (i.e., instead of τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως [tw eqei tw Mwu>sew"] they read καὶ τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως περιπατῆτε [kai tw eqei tw Mwu>sew" peripathte]). This is a decidedly stronger focus on obedience to the Law. As well, D expands vv. 1-5 in various places with the overall effect of being “more sympathetic to the local tradition of the church at Jerusalem” while the Alexandrian witnesses are more sympathetic to Paul (TCGNT 377). Codex D is well known for having a significantly longer text in Acts, but modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that the text of D expands on the original wording of Acts, with a theological viewpoint that especially puts Peter in a more authoritarian light. The expansion in these five verses is in keeping with that motif even though Peter is not explicitly in view.

[1:22]  ²⁸ tn Here the pronoun “he” refers to Jesus.