God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

90 A prayer of Moses, the man of God.a

1 O Lord, you have been our helpb ⌊in all generations⌋.c

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⌋,d “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.e

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 offf 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.

10As for the days of our years, within them are seventy years

or if by strength eighty years, and their prideg is trouble and disaster,

for it passes quickly and we fly away.

11 Who knows the strength of your anger,

and your rage consistent withh the fear due you?

12 So teach us to number our days

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Return,i O Yahweh. How long?

And have compassion onj 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.