---
title: "Psalm 72 (73) – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/psalms/72/
description: "Psalm 72 (Psalm 73 in Hebrew numbering) in the CPDV, with the Latin Vulgate. Quam bonus Israel Deus. The temptation of the weak, upon seeing the…"
---

# Psalm 72 (73)

Psalm 72 in the Vulgate numbering Bless follows is Psalm 73 in Hebrew numbering (the NABRE, RSV and KJV). Here are all 28 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Quam bonus Israel Deus. The temptation of the weak, upon seeing the prosperity of the wicked, is overcome by the consideration of the justice of God, who will quickly render to every one according to his works.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Psalm 72 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. A Psalm of Asaph. How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart.
2. But my feet were nearly moved; my steps had nearly slipped.
3. For I was zealous over the iniquitous, seeing the peacefulness of sinners.
4. For they have no respect for their death, nor do they have support in their wounds.
5. They are not with the hardships of men, nor will they be scourged with men.
6. Therefore, arrogance has held on to them. They have been covered with their iniquity and impiety.
7. Their iniquity has proceeded, as if from fat. They have parted from the affection of the heart.
8. They have thought and spoken wickedness. They have spoken iniquity in high places.
9. They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has traversed the earth.
10. Therefore, my people will be converted here, and fullness of days will be found in them.
11. And they said, “How would God know?” and, “Isn’t there knowledge in high places?”
12. Behold, these are sinners, and, abounding in this age, they have obtained riches.
13. And I said: So then, it is without purpose that I have justified my heart and washed my hands among the innocent.
14. And I have been scourged all day long, and I have received my chastisement in the mornings.
15. If I were to say that I would explain this: Behold, I would condemn this nation of your sons.
16. I considered, so that I might know this. It is a hardship before me,
17. until I may enter into the Sanctuary of God, and understand it to its last part.
18. So, because of deceitfulness, truly, you have placed it before them. While they were being lifted up, you were casting them down.
19. How have they been brought to desolation? They have suddenly failed. They have perished because of their iniquity.
20. As a dream is to those who awaken, O Lord, so will you reduce their image to nothing in your city.
21. For my heart has been inflamed, and my temperament has been changed.
22. And so, I have been reduced to nothing, and I did not know it.
23. I have become like a beast of burden to you, and I am always with you.
24. You have held my right hand. And in your will, you have conducted me, and with your glory, you have taken me up.
25. For what is there for me in heaven? And what do I wish for on earth before you?
26. My body has failed, and my heart: O God of my heart, and God my portion, into eternity.
27. For behold, those who put themselves far from you will perish. You have perished all those who fornicate away from you.
28. But it is good for me to adhere to God, to put my hope in the Lord God, so that I may announce all your prophecies, at the gates of the daughter of Zion.

## Psalm 72 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Psalmus Asaph. Quam bonus Israël Deus, his qui recto sunt corde!
2. Mei autem pene moti sunt pedes, pene effusi sunt gressus mei:
3. quia zelavi super iniquos, pacem peccatorum videns.
4. Quia non est respectus morti eorum, et firmamentum in plaga eorum.
5. In labore hominum non sunt, et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.
6. Ideo tenuit eos superbia; operti sunt iniquitate et impietate sua.
7. Prodiit quasi ex adipe iniquitas eorum; transierunt in affectum cordis.
8. Cogitaverunt et locuti sunt nequitiam; iniquitatem in excelso locuti sunt.
9. Posuerunt in cælum os suum, et lingua eorum transivit in terra.
10. Ideo convertetur populus meus hic, et dies pleni invenientur in eis.
11. Et dixerunt: Quomodo scit Deus, et si est scientia in excelso?
12. Ecce ipsi peccatores, et abundantes in sæculo obtinuerunt divitias.
13. Et dixi: Ergo sine causa justificavi cor meum, et lavi inter innocentes manus meas,
14. et fui flagellatus tota die, et castigatio mea in matutinis.
15. Si dicebam: Narrabo sic; ecce nationem filiorum tuorum reprobavi.
16. Existimabam ut cognoscerem hoc; labor est ante me:
17. donec intrem in sanctuarium Dei, et intelligam in novissimis eorum.
18. Verumtamen propter dolos posuisti eis; dejecisti eos dum allevarentur.
19. Quomodo facti sunt in desolationem? subito defecerunt: perierunt propter iniquitatem suam.
20. Velut somnium surgentium, Domine, in civitate tua imaginem ipsorum ad nihilum rediges.
21. Quia inflammatum est cor meum, et renes mei commutati sunt;
22. et ego ad nihilum redactus sum, et nescivi:
23. ut jumentum factus sum apud te, et ego semper tecum.
24. Tenuisti manum dexteram meam, et in voluntate tua deduxisti me, et cum gloria suscepisti me.
25. Quid enim mihi est in cælo? et a te quid volui super terram?
26. Defecit caro mea et cor meum; Deus cordis mei, et pars mea, Deus in æternum.
27. Quia ecce qui elongant se a te peribunt; perdidisti omnes qui fornicantur abs te.
28. Mihi autem adhærere Deo bonum est; ponere in Domino Deo spem meam: ut annuntiem omnes prædicationes tuas in portis filiæ Sion.

## The saints

- “Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with Thee, not for the avoiding of the calamities of this wretched world, nor so much for the attaining of the joys of heaven, as even for a very love of Thee.” — St. Thomas More, Prayer written in the Tower, 1534 (On this theme: verse 25)
- “Man has a beautiful office, that of praying and loving. You pray, you love: that is the happiness of man on earth.” — St. John Vianney, Sermon on Love of God, c. 1850 (On this theme: verse 28)

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 7: Abundance and temporal prosperity, which hath encouraged them in their iniquity: and made them give themselves up to their irregular affections.
- Verse 10: or hither. The weak among the servants of God, will be apt often to return to this thought, and will be shocked when they consider the full days, that is, the long and prosperous life of the wicked; and will be tempted to make the reflections against providence which are set down in the following verses.
- Verse 15: That is, if I should indulge such thoughts as these.
- Verse 18: In punishment of their deceits, or for deceiving them, thou hast brought evils upon them in their last end, which, in their prosperity they never apprehended.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).