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Psalm 73 · a question people ask

"You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory" (73:24). Is the psalmist speaking of what comes after death?

In the text

The verse doesn't say what afterward means, or when. Receive me is one Hebrew word, from laqach, the verb of Psalm 49's "for he will receive me" (Psalm 49:15). Psalm 49's notes take up that question: they set Psalm 49:15 and this verse beside "God took him" (Genesis 5:24) and beside "You have kept me alive" (Psalm 30:3), and don't choose. These notes don't repeat it. Around the verse, Psalm 73 says, "Nevertheless, I am continually with you" (73:23), and "My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (73:26). The psalm doesn't say more than these verses do, and these notes don't choose a reading of 73:24.

The verses

“Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:23-26 · World English Bible
“But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.”
Psalm 49:15 · World English Bible
“Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.”
Genesis 5:24 · World English Bible
“LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.”
Psalm 30:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 73

Psalm 73: Good to come close

Three verses of Psalm 73 begin with akh, Surely: God is good (73:1), I cleansed my heart in vain (73:13), you set them in slippery places (73:18). The one who nearly slipped (73:2) ends saying "it is good for me to come close to God" (73:28). And in Hebrew before you in "a brute beast before you" (73:22) is the next verse's with you.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions