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90 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Before the mountains were created, before the earth was formed, you are God without beginning or end.

You speak, and man turns back to dust. A thousand years are but as yesterday to you! They are like a single hour![a] 5-6 We glide along the tides of time as swiftly as a racing river and vanish as quickly as a dream. We are like grass that is green in the morning but mowed down and withered before the evening shadows fall. We die beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your wrath. You spread out our sins before you—our secret sins—and see them all. No wonder the years are long and heavy here beneath your wrath. All our days are filled with sighing.

10 Seventy years are given us! And some may even live to eighty. But even the best of these years are often empty and filled with pain; soon they disappear, and we are gone. 11 Who can realize the terrors of your anger? Which of us can fear you as he should?

12 Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.

13 O Jehovah, come and bless us! How long will you delay? Turn away your anger from us. 14 Satisfy us in our earliest[b] youth with your loving-kindness, giving us constant joy to the end of our lives. 15 Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. 16 Let us see your miracles again; let our children see glorious things, the kind you used to do, 17 and let the Lord our God favor us and give us success. May he give permanence to all we do.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 90:4 like a single hour, literally, “as a watch in the night.”
  2. Psalm 90:14 earliest, literally, “early.”

BOOK IV

Psalms 90–106

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place(A)
    throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born(B)
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting(C) you are God.(D)

You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”(E)
A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.(F)
Yet you sweep people away(G) in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.(H)

We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins(I) in the light of your presence.(J)
All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.(K)
10 Our days may come to seventy years,(L)
    or eighty,(M) if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,(N)
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.(O)
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath(P) is as great as the fear that is your due.(Q)
12 Teach us to number our days,(R)
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.(S)

13 Relent, Lord! How long(T) will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.(U)
14 Satisfy(V) us in the morning with your unfailing love,(W)
    that we may sing for joy(X) and be glad all our days.(Y)
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.(Z)

17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands.(AA)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 90:17 Or beauty

90 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.