Read the Bible

¹ O Lord, you have always been our home.
² Before you created the hills
    or brought the world into being,
    you were eternally God,
    and will be God forever.

³ You tell us to return to what we were;
    you change us back to dust.
^4 (b)A thousand years to you are like one day;
    they are like yesterday, already gone,
    like a short hour in the night.
⁵ You carry us away like a flood;
    we last no longer than a dream.
We are like weeds that sprout in the morning,
⁶     that grow and burst into bloom,
    then dry up and die in the evening.

⁷ We are destroyed by your anger;
    we are terrified by your fury.
⁸ You place our sins before you,
    our secret sins where you can see them.

⁹ Our life is cut short by your anger;
    it fades away like a whisper.
^10 (c)Seventy years is all we have—
    eighty years, if we are strong;
yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow;
    life is soon over, and we are gone.

¹¹ Who has felt the full power of your anger?
    Who knows what fear your fury can bring?
¹² Teach us how short our life is,
    so that we may become wise.

¹³ How much longer will your anger last?
    Have pity, O Lord, on your servants!
¹⁴ Fill us each morning with your constant love,
    so that we may sing and be glad all our life.
¹⁵ Give us now as much happiness as the sadness you gave us
    during all our years of misery.
¹⁶ Let us, your servants, see your mighty deeds;
    let our descendants see your glorious might.
¹⁷ Lord our God, may your blessings be with us.
    Give us success in all we do!