The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 God, it seems you've been our home forever;
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Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 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.
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Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!"
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You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!"
4 Patience! You've got all the time in the world - whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you.
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For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
5 Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass
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You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought?
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in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
7 Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope.
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For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books.
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You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get?
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For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 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.
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The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you?
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Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?
12 Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!
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So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Come back, God - how long do we have to wait? - and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
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Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
14 Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long.
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Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
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Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your servants see what you're best at - the ways you rule and bless your children.
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Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
17 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!
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Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.