So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
- BSB I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
- ESV I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
- NKJV I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
- NASB Then I was stupid and ignorant; I was like an animal before You.
- NLT I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He admits he was senseless and ignorant, like a brute beast before God.
Overview
Asaph repents of his foolish envy, confessing how irrational his doubt had been. To grumble against God's ways was beastly, not wise. This humble self-judgment clears the way for the renewed communion and confidence expressed in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Eccl 3:18I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
- Ps 92:6A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
- Ps 49:10For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- Isa 1:3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
- Prov 30:2Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
- Ps 32:9Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
- Job 18:3Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
- Ps 69:5O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 73:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.