PSALM 90:1-12
METER: 86 886
SUGGESTED TUNE: REST
This is the meter of the hymn "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind."
1. Lord, you have been our dwelling place
In generations all.
Before the mountains had been birthed
Or you had ever formed the world,
You are eternal, God.
2. Humans you turn back to the dust,
You tell us to turn back.
A thousand years to you are like
The day just passed, or even like
Keeping a watch at night.
3. Away you sweep us; we are like
A transitory dream.
We are like weeds that spout at morn,
That blossom in the day, and then
At evening fade and die.
4. Lord, by your anger we're consumed,
By your wrath overwhelmed.
You set our sins before your face,
Our secret sins where your presence
Uncovers ev'ry one.
5. Our life is cut short by your wrath,
We fade out like a sigh.
We've sev'nty years, eighty if strong;
Yet they're with woe and sorrow filled,
They end, and we depart.
6. Who understands your mighty wrath?
Who knows the fear that you
Bring when your fury comes? Teach us
To know the number of our days,
That we may wise become.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher from Sing the Psalms! by Dale A. Schoening. Copyright 1988 Dale A. Schoening. Alt. 2002 Dale A. Schoening.
