Book IV—Psalms 90–106
Psalm 90
Prayer To Use Time Wisely
1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Lord, you have been our refuge
from generation to generation.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth
or the earth and the world came into existence,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn men back to dust,
saying, “Return, you children of men.”
4 For to you a thousand years
are like a yesterday that has passed
or one of the watches of the night.
5 You snatch them away like a dream;
they are like the grass of the field,
6 which at dawn flourishes and is green
but by nightfall is withered and dry.
7 We have been brought low by your anger
and overwhelmed with terror by your wrath.
8 You have not forgotten our iniquities;
our secret sins are clearly visible in your sight.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
our years are consumed like a sigh.
10 The span of our life numbers seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we have enough strength.
Most of them are marked by toil and emptiness;
they pass swiftly, and then we fly away.
11 Who understands the might of your anger
and rightly fears the power of your wrath?
12 Teach us to comprehend how few our days are
so that our hearts may be filled with wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord. How long must we wait?
Show compassion to your servants.
14 Fill us with your kindness in the morning
so that we may exult and be glad all our days.
15 Grant us joy for as many days as you have afflicted us
and for as many years as we have known misfortune.
16 Manifest your works to your servants
and your glory to their children.
17 May the favor of the Lord, our God, rest upon us.
And may the work of our hands prosper—
indeed, may the work of our hands prosper.
Footnotes
- Psalm 90:1
- Psalm 90:1
- Psalm 90:1
- Psalm 90:3
- Psalm 90:4
- Psalm 90:5
- Psalm 90:7
- Psalm 90:10
- Psalm 90:11
- Psalm 90:13
- Psalm 90:14
- Psalm 90:17
