Psalm 90-91

Complete Jewish Bible

⁽¹⁾ Adonai, you have been our dwelling place
in every generation.
² Before the mountains were born,
before you had formed the earth and the world,
from eternity past to eternity future
you are God.

³ You bring frail mortals to the point of being crushed,
then say, “People, repent!”
⁴ For from your viewpoint a thousand years
are merely like yesterday or a night watch.
⁵ When you sweep them away, they become like sleep;
by morning they are like growing grass,
⁶ growing and flowering in the morning,
but by evening cut down and dried up.

⁷ For we are destroyed by your anger,
overwhelmed by your wrath.
⁸ You have placed our faults before you,
our secret sins in the full light of your presence.

⁹ All our days ebb away under your wrath;
our years die away like a sigh.
¹⁰ The span of our life is seventy years,
or if we are strong, eighty;
yet at best it is toil and sorrow,
over in a moment, and then we are gone.

¹¹ Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath
to the degree that the fear due you should inspire?
¹² So teach us to count our days,
so that we will become wise.

¹³ Return, Adonai! How long must it go on?
Take pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Fill us at daybreak with your love,
so that we can sing for joy as long as we live.
¹⁵ Let our joy last as long as the time you made us suffer,
for as many years as we experienced trouble.

¹⁶ Show your deeds to your servants
and your glory to their children.
¹⁷ May the favor of Adonai our God be on us,
prosper for us all the work that we do —
yes, prosper the work that we do.

91 You who live in the shelter of ‘Elyon,
who spend your nights in the shadow of Shaddai,
² who say to Adonai, “My refuge! My fortress!
My God, in whom I trust!” —
³ he will rescue you from the trap of the hunter
and from the plague of calamities;
⁴ he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his truth is a shield and protection.

⁵ You will not fear the terrors of night
or the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ or the plague that roams in the dark,
or the scourge that wreaks havoc at noon.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand;
but it won’t come near you.
⁸ Only keep your eyes open,
and you will see how the wicked are punished.

⁹ For you have made Adonai, the Most High,
who is my refuge, your dwelling-place.
¹⁰ No disaster will happen to you,
no calamity will come near your tent;
¹¹ for he will order his angels to care for you
and guard you wherever you go.
¹² They will carry you in their hands,
so that you won’t trip on a stone.
¹³ You will tread down lions and snakes,
young lions and serpents you will trample underfoot.
¹⁴ “Because he loves me, I will rescue him;
because he knows my name, I will protect him.
¹⁵ He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble.
I will extricate him and bring him honor.
¹⁶ I will satisfy him with long life
and show him my salvation.”