Psalms 90:1-12

Psalms 90:1-17 The Message (MSG)

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. 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? 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!

Psalms 90:1-12 Amplified Bible (AMP)

Lord, You have been our dwelling place [our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability] in all generations. Before the mountains were born Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God. ¶You turn man back to dust, And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, Or as a watch in the night. [2 Pet 3:8] You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep [forgotten as soon as they are gone]; In the morning they are like grass which grows anew— In the morning it flourishes and springs up; In the evening it wilts and withers away. ¶For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been terrified. You have placed our wickedness before you, Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence. For all our days pass away in Your wrath; We have finished our years like a whispered sigh. [Num 14:26-35] The days of our life are seventy years— Or even, if because of strength, eighty years; Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow, For it is soon gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?] And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.

Psalms 90:1-12 The Passion Translation (TPT)

Lord, you have always been our eternal home, our hiding place from generation to generation. Long before you gave birth to the earth and before the mountains were born, you have been from everlasting to everlasting, the one and only true God. When you speak the words “Life, return to me!” man turns back to dust. One thousand years pass before your eyes like yesterday that quickly faded away, like a night’s sleep soon forgotten. One day we will each be swept away into the sleep of death. We glide along through the tides of time— so quickly gone, like a dream that fades at dawn, like glistening grass that springs up one day and is dry and withered the next, ready to be cut down! Terrified by your anger, confined beneath the curse, we live our lives knowing your wrath. For all of our faults and flaws are in full view to you. Everything we want to hide, you search out and expose by the radiance of your face. We are banished to live in the shadow of your anger. Our days soon become years until our lifetime comes to an end, finished with nothing but a sigh. You’ve limited our life span to a mere seventy years, yet some you give grace to live still longer. But even the best of years are marred by tears and toils and in the end are nothing more than a gravestone in a graveyard! We’re gone so quickly, so swiftly; we pass away and simply disappear. Lord, who fully knows the power of your passion and the intensity of your emotions? Help us to remember that our days are numbered, and help us to interpret our lives correctly. Set your wisdom deeply in our hearts so that we may accept your correction.