New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
1
God, it seems you've been our home forever;
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
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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.
3 You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
3
So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!"
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
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Patience! You've got all the time in the world - whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
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Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
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That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought?
7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
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Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
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You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
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All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get?
10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
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.
11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
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Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you?
12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
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Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!
13 Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
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Come back, God - how long do we have to wait? - and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
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Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long.
15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
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Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
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Let your servants see what you're best at - the ways you rule and bless your children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!
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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!
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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.