Psalms 73:18
Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Study Note
Study Note
The Asaphite insight 'surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction' resolves the anguished envy of Psalm 73's opening section, where the prosperity of the wicked threatened to undermine the psalmist's faith. The turning point (v. 17: 'until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end') presents the sanctuary/divine perspective as the epistemological correction to empirical-horizontal reading of outcomes — seeing from God's vantage transforms the visible prosperity of the wicked into precarious instability. The 'slippery places' (chalaqoth, smooth/treacherous ground) make apparent stability into latent danger — one step from catastrophic fall. The psalm's journey from near-apostasy (v. 2: 'my feet were almost gone') to confident trust (v. 28: 'it is good for me to draw near to God') has made it the canonical resource for believers wrestling with the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous.
Other Translations
Surely thou settest them in slippery places: Thou castest them down to destruction.
Only, in slippery places Thou dost set them, Thou hast caused them to fall to desolations.
You put their feet where there was danger of slipping, so that they go down into destruction.
Cross References
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is …
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall …
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the …
When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they …
But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live …
But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.
I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall …