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Psalm 63

Comfort and Assurance in God’s Presence

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
¹ O God, you are my God, I seek you,
   my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
   beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life,
   my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;
   I will lift up my hands and call on your name.

⁵ My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,^*
   and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
⁶ when I think of you on my bed,
   and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷ for you have been my help,
   and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
⁸ My soul clings to you;
   your right hand upholds me.

⁹ But those who seek to destroy my life
   shall go down into the depths of the earth;
¹⁰ they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
   they shall be prey for jackals.
¹¹ But the king shall rejoice in God;
   all who swear by him shall exult,
   for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90-106)

Psalm 90

God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling-place^*
   in all generations.
² Before the mountains were brought forth,
   or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
   from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You turn us^* back to dust,
   and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
   are like yesterday when it is past,
   or like a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
   like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
   in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷ For we are consumed by your anger;
   by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
   our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;
   our years come to an end^* like a sigh.
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.

¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger?
   Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
¹² So teach us to count our days
   that we may gain a wise heart.

¹³ Turn, O Lord! How long?
   Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
   so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ 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 work be manifest to your servants,
   and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
   and prosper for us the work of our hands—
   O prosper the work of our hands!