1 O Lord, you have been our help {in all generations}. 2 Before [the] mountains were born and you brought forth [the] earth and [the] world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you [are] God.
3 You return man to [the] dust, {saying}, "Return, O sons of man." 4 For a thousand years in your eyes [are] like yesterday when it passes, or [like] a watch in the night. 5 You sweep them away [like a flood]. They fall asleep. In the morning [they are] like grass [that] sprouts anew. 6 In the morning it blossoms and sprouts anew; by evening it withers and dries up.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger, and we hasten [off] by your wrath. 8 You have put our iniquities before you, our hidden [sins] into the light of your countenance. 9 For all of our days dwindle away in your rage; we complete our years like a sigh. 10 As for the days of our years, within them [are] seventy years or if by strength eighty years, and their pride [is] trouble and disaster, for it passes quickly and we fly [away]. 11 Who knows the strength of your anger, and your rage consistent with [the] fear due you? 12 So teach [us] to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Yahweh. How long? And have compassion on your servants. 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your loyal love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, [for as many] years [as] we have seen calamity. 16 Let your work be visible to your servants, and your majesty to their children. 17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish for us the work of our hands, yes, the work of our hands, establish it.