Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

90 Lord, from long ago,
    you have always been a safe home for us.^[b]
2 From before the mountains began,
    and before you made the world,
you were already there, as God.
    You have no beginning and no end.
³ People return to dust in the ground when they die.
    You say, ‘Become dust again, you people.’^[c]
4 For you, a thousand years is only a short time.
They pass as quickly as a day for you,
    or just a few hours in the night.
⁵ You cause people's lives to end,
    as a dream finishes when you wake up.
People are like grass that appears in the morning.
⁶ During the morning, it grows well.
By the evening,
    it becomes dry and it dies.

¹³ Lord, return to help us!
    How long will you be angry with us?
Please be kind to us, your servants!
¹⁴ Show your faithful love to us every morning.
Then we will sing with joy,
    and we will be happy for as long as we live.
¹⁵ For many years you have sent trouble to us.
Now, please make us happy
    for as many years as you have given us pain.
¹⁶ Do great things again,
    so that we, your servants, see them!
Let our children see that you rule as King!
¹⁷ Yes, may the Lord our God bless us.
May everything that we do go well!
    Yes, may everything go well!

32 Sky and earth, listen to my words! Hear what I am saying!
² My teaching will be like the rain that falls.
My messages will help the people who hear them,
    as rain helps new grass to grow.
³ I will praise the Lord's name.
    Everyone must know that our God is very great!
⁴ He is the strong Rock where we can be safe.
    Everything that he does is perfect.
He only does what is right and fair.
    We can trust him to be faithful.
⁵ But you, his people, have not served him faithfully.
    Because of your sins, you cannot continue to be his children.
You have turned against him.
    You enjoy doing bad things.
⁶ You are fools who do not understand what is right.
    You should not do these things against the Lord.
He is your Father, the one who created you.
    He made you become a strong nation.
⁷ Remember what happened a long time ago.
Think about the lives of your ancestors.
Ask your father or the old men.
    They will tell you what happened in the past.
⁸ The Most High God gave land to be the home of each nation.
When he made people into separate groups,
    he decided where their borders should be.^[a]
He did that to match the number of angels in heaven.^[b]
9 But the Lord himself takes care of his own people.
    Jacob's descendants are his special people.
¹⁰ The Lord found them in a desert place.
    It was a place where strong winds blew and nobody lived.
He took care of them and he kept them safe.
    He protected them, like someone protects their own eyes.
¹¹ The Lord took care of his people,
    like an eagle takes care of its babies.
As an eagle flies with its babies on its back,
    the Lord helped his people to be safe.
¹² The Lord alone was a guide for his people.
    He needed no foreign god to help him.
¹³ The Lord helped them to travel over the high places in the land.
    He fed them with food from the fields.
    He made them strong with honey from the rocks.
    He gave them olive oil from trees in ground with many stones.
¹⁴ Their cows and their goats gave them plenty of milk and butter.
Their lambs, sheep and goats became fat,
    so they ate the best meat.
They ate the best bread from their wheat.
    They drank the best wine from their grapes.

¹⁸ You forgot about your strong Rock,
    the God who gave you life.