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Psalm 73:21

For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.

19How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
20As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.
21For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.
22I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.
23Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand.
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← Psalm 73:20Psalm 73:22 →
Notice

“Grieved” and “embittered” describe the speaker’s inner life, exposing how distress over the wicked can become a bitterness carried in the heart.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What helps you distinguish being “grieved” from being “embittered” in your own heart?

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How does the speaker’s grief compare with your response when unjust people prosper?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

6 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 37:7Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.Psalm 37 warns against fretting over prosperous evildoers; Psalm 73 describes the inward bitterness that such prosperity has provoked.
Psalm 73:3For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.The envy named earlier in Psalm 73 helps explain the grief and bitterness the speaker now acknowledges.
Lamentations 3:13He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.Both describe inward suffering, though Lamentations depicts arrows entering the body while the psalm names grief and bitterness.
Job 16:13His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my bile on the ground.Job depicts his inward pain through violent injury; Psalm 73 describes inner distress through the language of grief and bitterness.
Psalm 37:1By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.Psalm 37 warns against envy of evildoers, while Psalm 73 records the bitter distress associated with that envy.
Psalm 16:7I will bless the LORD, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.Both speak of the heart’s inner activity: Psalm 16 describes instruction, while Psalm 73 describes bitterness.
Where this verse fits

Envy and comparison. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Speak to God about grief and bitterness

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Encouragement

Honest prayer has room for the word “embittered.” In the verses that follow, the speaker acknowledges his ignorance and speaks of God holding his right hand.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 73:21. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 73 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).