God’s Eternity and Human Frailty
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 O Lord, you have been our help in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
and you brought forth the earth and the world,
even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
3 You return man to the dust,
saying, “Return, O sons of man.”
4 For a thousand years in your eyes
are like yesterday when it passes,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away like a flood.
They fall asleep.
In the morning they are like grass that sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it blossoms and sprouts anew;
by evening it withers and dries up.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger,
and we hasten off by your wrath.
8 You have put our iniquities before you,
our hidden sins into the light of your countenance.
9 For all of our days dwindle away in your rage;
we complete our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our years, within them are seventy years
or if by strength eighty years, and their pride is trouble and disaster,
for it passes quickly and we fly away.
11 Who knows the strength of your anger,
and your rage consistent with the fear due you?
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Yahweh. How long?
And have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your loyal love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen calamity.
16 Let your work be visible to your servants,
and your majesty to their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish for us the work of our hands,
yes, the work of our hands, establish it.
Footnotes
- Psalm 90:1
- Psalm 90:1
- Psalm 90:1
- Psalm 90:3
- Psalm 90:5
- Psalm 90:7
- Psalm 90:10
- Psalm 90:11
- Psalm 90:13
- Psalm 90:13
