Psalm 90
Words: The Psalter of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, 1887 ed.
Note: This page also has an 8's Metre
version of this psalm.
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place
In generations all.
Before thou ever hadst brought forth
The mountains great or small;
2 Ere ever thou hadst formed the earth,
And all the world abroad;
Ev'n thou from everlasting art
To everlasting God.
3 O Lord, thou to destruction dost
Man that is mortal turn:
And unto them thou say'st, Again
Ye sons of men, return.
4 Because a thousand years appear
No more before thy sight
Than yesterday, when it is past,
Or than a watch by night.
5 As with an overflowing flood
Thou sweepest them away:
They are as sleep, and as the grass
That grows at morn are they.
6 At morn it flourishes and grows,
Cut down at eve doth fade.
For by thine anger we're consumed
Thy wrath makes us afraid.
7 All our iniquities thou dost
Before thy presence place;
Our secret sins dost set before
The brightness of thy face.
8 For in thine anger all our days
Are passing to an end;
And as a tale that hath been told,
Our fleeting years we spend.
9 The years our days on earth do make
Are threescore years and ten;
Or if there is more strength in some
And they fourscore attain;
10 Yet doth the strength of such old men
But grief and labor prove;
For it is soon cut off, and we
Fly hence, and soon remove.
11 Thy wrath's according to thy fear;
Who knows its power great?
Teach us that we our days may count,
Our hearts on wisdom set.
12 Return again to us, O Lord,
How long thus shall it be?
Let it repent thee now for those
That servants are to thee.
13 O with thy tender mercies, Lord,
Us early satisfy;
So all our days we will rejoice,
We will be glad in thee.
14 According as the days have been,
Wherein we grief have had,
And years wherein we ill have seen~
So do thou make us glad.
15 O let thy work and pow'r appear
Thy servants' face before;
And show to all their children dear
Thy glory evermore:
16 And let the beauty of the Lord
Our God be us upon:
The labors of our hands confirm,
Establish them each one.
 (88 88 88)
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place
From age to age, from race to race.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever thou hadst formed the earth.
From years which no beginning had
To years unending, thou art God
2 Thou turnest man to dust again,
And say'st, Return, ye sons of men.
As yesterday, when past, appears,
So in thy sight a thousand years,
They like a day are in thy sight,
Yea, like a passing watch by night
3 As with a flood thou mak'st them pass;
They like a sleep are, like the grass,
That in the morning may be seen
To grow and flourish, fresh and green
At evening by the hand of death,
It is cut down, and withereth
4 For in thine anger we're consumed,
And by thy wrath to trouble doomed;
Thou in thy sight our sins dost place,
Our secret sins before thy face.
For in thy wrath our days we spend,
Our years like tales which quickly end
5 Our days are threescore years and ten,
And it, through strength, fourscore~yet then
'Tis labor, sorrow and decay;
'Tis soon cut off ;-- we fly away.
Who knows the pow'r thine anger hath?
As is thy fear so is thy wrath
6 O teach thou us to count our days,
And set our hearts on wisdom's ways.
Return, O Lord, at length relent,
And for thy servants' sake repent.
How long--how long--thus shall it be?
Return, that we may joy in thee.
7 O do thy mercy soon impart
To satisfy our longing heart,
So we rejoice shall all our days,
And happy be in thee always.
For days of grief that we have had,
And years of evils make us glad.
8 Thy work unto thy servants show,
Thy glory let their children know,
And let there be on us bestowed
The beauty of the Lord our God:
The work accomplished by our hand
Let it by thee established stand.
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