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.

²⁴ Therefore the Lord says,
The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,
“Ah, ^(A)I will ^[a]rid Myself of My adversaries,
And ^[b]take vengeance on My enemies.
²⁵ I will turn My hand against you,
And ^(B)thoroughly^[c] purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
²⁶ I will restore your judges ^(C)as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward ^(D)you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”

²⁷ Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her ^[d]penitents with righteousness.
²⁸ The ^(E)destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
²⁹ For ^[e]they shall be ashamed of the ^[f]terebinth trees
Which you have desired;
And you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens
Which you have chosen.
³⁰ For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades,
And as a garden that has no water.
^31 (F)The strong shall be as tinder,
And the work of it as a spark;
Both will burn together,
And no one shall ^(G)quench them.