Psalm 73:7 kjv
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Psalm 73:7 nkjv
Their eyes bulge with abundance; They have more than heart could wish.
Psalm 73:7 niv
From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.
Psalm 73:7 esv
Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
Psalm 73:7 nlt
These fat cats have everything
their hearts could ever wish for!
Psalm 73 7 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Psa 17:10 | "They have closed their callous hearts, and with their mouths they speak boastfully." | Wicked are insensitive and proud. |
| Psa 73:3 | "For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." | Context: Asaph's initial spiritual struggle. |
| Psa 73:5 | "They are not in trouble as other people are; they are not afflicted like others." | The wicked's apparent ease and lack of trouble. |
| Psa 73:6 | "Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment." | Their characteristic pride and oppressive nature. |
| Psa 73:12 | "Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches." | Reinforces their sustained prosperity. |
| Psa 73:18 | "Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin." | Contrasts their present state with their swift downfall. |
| Deut 32:15 | "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, thick, and gorged; then he forsook God..." | Fatness leading to spiritual abandonment. |
| Job 15:27 | "For he has covered his face with his fatness and gathered fat on his loins." | A description of arrogance born of material excess. |
| Job 21:7 | "Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?" | Echoes the perplexing question of the wicked's success. |
| Jer 12:1 | "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are faithless flourish?" | Another lament over the ungodly's prosperity. |
| Isa 6:10 | "Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes..." | Fatness of heart/eyes indicating spiritual dullness. |
| Eze 16:49 | "Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of food, and luxurious ease..." | Excess leading to arrogance and sin. |
| Matt 15:19 | "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality..." | Origin of evil imaginings/desires from the heart. |
| Mk 7:21-23 | "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality..." | Further emphasizes the heart as the source of defiling thoughts. |
| Rom 1:21 | "For although they knew God... they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." | Futile thoughts from darkened hearts, rejecting God. |
| Prov 23:7 | "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." | Links internal thought life to one's true character. |
| Jas 1:14 | "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire." | The role of uncontrolled internal desires in sin. |
| 1 Tim 6:9-10 | "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation... For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil..." | Danger of the heart's unchecked desires for wealth. |
| Luke 12:19-20 | "And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods... be merry. But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you...'" | The Rich Fool's self-centered thoughts and abrupt judgment. |
| Jude 1:16 | "These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires..." | Describes the self-driven nature of the wicked. |
| Psa 119:70 | "Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law." | Contrasts the insensitive heart of the wicked with the righteous. |
| Phil 3:19 | "Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." | Those consumed by physical desires and earthly minds. |
| Rev 18:7 | "As she glorified herself and lived in luxury... since she says in her heart, 'I sit as a queen...'" | Babylon's pride, luxury, and self-delusion. |
Psalm 73 verses
Psalm 73 7 Meaning
Psalm 73:7 vividly portrays the physical and internal state of the wicked who appear to prosper without divine judgment. Their outward appearance, characterized by "bulging eyes from fatness," signifies extreme material abundance, luxury, and self-indulgence. This physical manifestation reflects a life of unrestrained ease and possibly spiritual callousness. Concurrently, "their hearts overflow with the imaginings of their mind" reveals their inner core: their thoughts, desires, and schemes are consumed by self-serving purposes, flowing forth uncontrollably without regard for righteousness, divine truth, or others' welfare. The verse depicts a person spiritually bloated and intellectually preoccupied with their own sinful conceptions, seemingly unconcerned with any impending accountability.
Psalm 73 7 Context
Psalm 73 opens with the psalmist Asaph's confession of stumbling over the prosperity of the wicked. He describes how his "feet had almost stumbled, his steps had nearly slipped" (Psa 73:2) due to his envy of their seemingly untroubled and affluent lives. Verse 7, then, is a critical part of Asaph's detailed observation of these ungodly individuals. He notices their physical manifestation of wealth (bulging eyes) and their internal dispositions (overflowing with desires). The verses immediately preceding (Psa 73:4-6) emphasize their freedom from struggle and their arrogant pride, setting the stage for verse 7's deeper psychological insight. This observation forms the core of Asaph's spiritual crisis until he enters the sanctuary of God and comprehends their ultimate destruction (Psa 73:17-20), shifting from confusion to confidence in God's justice.
Psalm 73 7 Word analysis
- Their eyes: (
'êyneymō, עֵינֵימוֹ fromayinעַיִן): Represents both their literal perception and their general outlook or perspective on life. It signifies their visible appearance to the world, revealing their inner state. - bulge / swell out: (
yāts'ū, יָצְאוּ fromyatsa’יָצָא): Literally means "to go out" or "come forth." This specific usage indicates a protuberance, a noticeable outward swelling or distortion. It suggests that their internal condition of unchecked indulgence manifests physically. - from fatness: (
mechelebh, מֵחֶלֶב fromchēlebחֵלֶב): Refers to the choicest or richest part, often signifying extreme abundance, prosperity, and unrestrained luxury. This points to a life of material ease and excessive consumption. It can imply not just physical corpulence but also spiritual insensitivity due to overindulgence. - their hearts: (
l'vav, לְבַב fromlēbhלֵב): In biblical Hebrew thought, the heart is the center of one's entire being, encompassing intellect, will, emotions, and moral character. It represents their innermost core, the source of their thoughts and motivations. - overflow: (
ya‛ăbor, יַעֲבֹר from‛ābarעָבַר): Means "to pass over" or "to go through," often implying transgression or excess. Here, it conveys an uncontrolled spilling forth, an abundance that knows no bounds, indicating limitless and unrestrained internal activity. - with the imaginings / desires of their mind: (
maskı̂yôt, מַשְׂכִּיּוֹת): A difficult and rare Hebrew term. It can suggest self-generated mental constructs, plans, or grand designs, akin to "images" or "figments." Other interpretations link it to desires, implying insatiable wants. The consensus points to selfish, proud, or wicked thoughts and schemes originating within themselves.
Words-group by words-group analysis:
- "Their eyes bulge from fatness": This phrase visually describes an external sign of extreme opulence and self-indulgence. The bulging eyes suggest an unhealthy, perhaps bloated, physical condition that mirrors a deeper spiritual ailment. It conveys how the excess of their prosperity has outwardly corrupted their appearance, indicative of their detachment from normal human struggle.
- "their hearts overflow": This metaphor highlights an internal state where the central core of their being is excessively full and lacking restraint. The "overflow" implies that whatever fills their heart is so abundant that it cannot be contained, suggesting unchecked and boundless inner activity.
- "with the imaginings of their mind": This specifies the nature of what fills their hearts. These "imaginings" or "desires" are self-originated, reflecting their vanity, arrogance, and sinful schemes. Their minds are consumed with their own self-aggrandizing or ungodly plans, operating independently of God's wisdom or moral boundaries.
Psalm 73 7 Bonus section
The specific Hebrew term maskı̂yôt in Psalm 73:7 is exceptionally challenging to translate consistently, with scholarly debate ranging from "images" or "figures" (perhaps referring to idol-like concepts they entertain in their minds) to more abstract "vain imaginings" or "desires." The Septuagint's Greek rendering ("Their iniquity has set itself as a fat; they are destroyed when they pass through, they stretched themselves out") interprets "fatness" in connection to iniquity (adikia), suggesting that their wickedness itself has become "fat" or substantial. This emphasizes the deep entrenchment and unyielded nature of their sin, aligning the physical fatness directly with moral corruption. While different interpretations exist, the core message remains: the wicked are characterized by material affluence leading to self-absorption, pride, and unchecked sinful thoughts, whether these thoughts are explicit schemes or limitless desires. Their visible prosperity fosters an internal world that functions without reference to God or righteousness.
Psalm 73 7 Commentary
Psalm 73:7 provides a piercing portrait of the wicked from the psalmist's human perspective before divine revelation. The physical descriptor of "eyes bulging from fatness" serves as a striking metaphor for a life drenched in material excess, not merely conveying wealth but suggesting an insensitivity and grossness resulting from over-indulgence. It implies a kind of spiritual blindness, where their self-absorption dulls their perception of God's ways or others' suffering. Complementing this external observation is the internal state: "their hearts overflow with the imaginings of their mind." This reveals an inner world brimming with ungodly thoughts, desires, and self-serving schemes, utterly lacking self-control or spiritual discipline. They conceive plans based solely on their own wills and appetites, unfettered by righteousness. This verse thus articulates the root of their spiritual defiance: outward prosperity fostering inner arrogance, leading them to believe their own self-generated thoughts are ultimate reality, culminating in their perceived immunity to consequence.