Psalm 90

1. LORD, Thou hast been since Thou didst shape / creation / Our dwelling place in ev’ry generation. / Before the mountains were brought forth and / grounded, / And Thou the earth and world hadst formed and / founded, / From everlasting stands Thy holy throne; / To everlasting Thou art God a lone.

2. What is our worth when Thou Thy help delayest? / Thou turnest man back to the dust and sayest, / “Turn back, O sons of man,” and thus we perish. / Brief is our life, and vain the things we cherish. / A thousand of our years are in Thy sight / A day gone by, a watch gone with the night.

3. Thou sweepest men away, vain in their glory, / For they are like a fleeting dream before Thee, / Like grass which springs up in the early morning, / Like flowers for a while the earth adorning / That with the dawn unfold on hill and glade: / By evening time they wither and they fade.

4. For we are all consumed by Thy great anger, / And in dismay we’ve seen Thy fury linger. / Thou settest our iniquities before Thee. / Thy light reveals our secret sins most surely, / For in Thy wrath do all our days go by; / Our years come to their ending with a sigh.

5. Three score and ten are all the years allowed us, / And fourscore when Thou hast with strength / endowed us. / Soon they are gone, their best is toil and trouble. / We fly away, our labors worthless stubble. / Who understands the power of Thy wrath, / When Thy great vengeance meets us on our path?

6. Who understands the woes of all who fear Thee? / Why burns Thy wrath against those who revere / Thee? / We pass our years in fear and fitful slumber; / Teach us that we our span of days may number, / So that our hearts gain wisdom. LORD, return! / How long? Have pity! For Thy love we yearn.

7. LORD, in the morning come and satisfy us, / With steadfast love and with Thy blessings ply us / So that we may rejoice and sing with gladness / As many days as we have mourned in sadness, / As many years as evil we have seen, / That after grief we times of joy may glean.

8. Show forth Thy work to all who serve before / Thee, / And to Thy children show Thy power and glory. / May He, the LORD, our gracious God and Savior, / Shed on us all the riches of His favor. / Establish Thou the labors of our hand; / Establish them, that to Thy praise they stand.
W. van der Kamp, 1972; rev.