Psalm 90
New King James Version
BOOK FOUR
Psalms 90–106
The Eternity of God, and Man’s Frailty
A Prayer (A)of Moses the man of God.
90 Lord, (B)You have been our [a]dwelling place in all generations.
2 (C)Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You [b]had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man to destruction,
And say, (D)“Return, O children of men.”
4 (E)For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
And like a watch in the night.
5 You carry them away like a flood;
(F)They are like a sleep.
In the morning (G)they are like grass which grows up:
6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
In the evening it is cut down and withers.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger,
And by Your wrath we are terrified.
8 (H)You have set our iniquities before You,
Our (I)secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
We finish our years like a sigh.
10 The days of our lives are seventy years;
And if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 (J)So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord!
How long?
And (K)have compassion on Your servants.
14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
(L)That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
The years in which we have seen evil.
16 Let (M)Your work appear to Your servants,
And Your glory to their children.
17 (N)And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
And (O)establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Footnotes
- Psalm 90:1 LXX, Tg., Vg. refuge
- Psalm 90:2 Lit. gave birth to
Psalm 90
New American Standard Bible
BOOK 4
God’s Eternity and the Brevity of Human Life.
A Prayer of [a]Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, You have been our [b](A)dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before (B)the mountains were born
[c]Or You (C)gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even (D)from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You (E)turn mortals back into dust
And say, “Return, you sons of mankind.”
4 For (F)a thousand years in Your sight
Are like (G)yesterday when it passes by,
[d]Or like a (H)watch in the night.
5 You (I)have [e]swept them away like a flood, they [f](J)fall asleep;
In the morning they are like (K)grass that [g]sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it (L)flourishes and [h]sprouts anew;
Toward evening it (M)wilts and (N)withers away.
7 For we have been (O)consumed by Your anger,
And we have been terrified by Your wrath.
8 You have (P)placed our guilty deeds before You,
Our (Q)hidden sins in the light of Your presence.
9 For (R)all our days have dwindled away in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a [i]sigh.
10 As for the days of our [j]life, [k]they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, (S)eighty years,
Yet their pride is only (T)trouble and tragedy;
For it quickly passes, and we (U)disappear.
11 Who [l]understands the (V)power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the (W)fear [m]that is due You?
12 So (X)teach us to number our days,
That we may [n](Y)present to You a heart of wisdom.
13 Do (Z)return, Lord; (AA)how long will it be?
And [o]be (AB)sorry for Your servants.
14 (AC)Satisfy us in the morning with Your graciousness,
That we may (AD)sing for joy and rejoice all our days.
15 (AE)Make us glad [p]according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the (AF)years we have seen [q]evil.
16 Let Your (AG)work appear to Your servants
And Your (AH)majesty [r]to their children.
17 May the (AI)kindness of the Lord our God be upon us;
And [s](AJ)confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, [t]confirm the work of our hands.
Footnotes
- Psalm 90 Title Deut 33:1
- Psalm 90:1 Or hiding place; some ancient mss place of refuge
- Psalm 90:2 Or And
- Psalm 90:4 Or And
- Psalm 90:5 Or flooded
- Psalm 90:5 Lit become asleep
- Psalm 90:5 Or passes away
- Psalm 90:6 Or passes away
- Psalm 90:9 Or whisper
- Psalm 90:10 Lit years
- Psalm 90:10 Lit in them are
- Psalm 90:11 Or knows
- Psalm 90:11 Lit of You
- Psalm 90:12 Lit bring in
- Psalm 90:13 Or repent in regard to
- Psalm 90:15 Or as many days as
- Psalm 90:15 Or trouble
- Psalm 90:16 Or upon
- Psalm 90:17 Or give permanence to
- Psalm 90:17 Or give permanence to
Psalm 90
The Message
90 1-2 God, it seems you’ve been our home forever;
long before the mountains were born,
Long before you brought earth itself to birth,
from “once upon a time” to “kingdom come”—you are God.
3-11 So don’t return us to mud, saying,
“Back to where you came from!”
Patience! You’ve got all the time in the world—whether
a thousand years or a day, it’s all the same to you.
Are we no more to you than a wispy dream,
no more than a blade of grass
That springs up gloriously with the rising sun
and is cut down without a second thought?
Your anger is far and away too much for us;
we’re at the end of our rope.
You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed
since we were children is entered in your books.
All we can remember is that frown on your face.
Is that all we’re ever going to get?
We live for seventy years or so
(with luck we might make it to eighty),
And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard.
Who can make sense of such rage,
such anger against the very ones who fear you?
12-17 Oh! Teach us to live well!
Teach us to live wisely and well!
Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
Surprise us with love at daybreak;
then we’ll skip and dance all the day long.
Make up for the bad times with some good times;
we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
Let your servants see what you’re best at—
the ways you rule and bless your children.
And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
confirming the work that we do.
Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson