Psalms 73:1
Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
BSB
ASV
Surely God is good to Israel, Even to such as are pure in heart.
KJV
Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
"How good is God to Israel, to them that are right in heart!" Growth in moral perfection is evident as a theme from the beginning of the psalm. Indeed, no one can truly proclaim that God is good but one who knows that goodness is not from his own successes and profits but out of the depth of the heavenly mysteries and the height of God's plan. For it is to be weighed not by the appearance of things present but by the advantage of things to come. Consequently, to the just person God is always good.
Truly, or, more correctly, only, God is good to Israel. He is only good, nothing else but good to his own covenanted ones. He cannot act unjustly, or unkindly to them; his goodness to them is beyond dispute, and without mixture. Even to such as are of a clean heart. These are the true Israel, not the ceremonially clean but the really so; those who are clean in the inward parts, pure in the vital mainspring of action. To such he is, and must be, goodness itself.
Bookends: the same words open and close
Psalms 73:28PERICOPE. Ps 73's 'good' (tob) frame: 'Truly God is good to Israel' (v.1) resolved by 'it is good for me to draw near to God' (v.28) - the crisis re-defines the good. Catchword inclusio.
ASV/WEB text; expository studies (expositorythoughts.wordpress.com)
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
James 4:8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
leads to
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
Through
Psalms 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
leads to
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!
to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?
Through
Psalms 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
leads to
Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.