[1] Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
[2] Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
[3] You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
[4] A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
[5] Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death— they are like the new grass of the morning:
[6] In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.
[7] We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.
[8] You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
[9] All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.
[10] Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
[11] If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
[12] Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
[13] Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
[14] Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing 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 trouble.
[16] May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
[17] May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
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Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses 1) because some of its language is similar to that of Deuteronomy 32-33, 2) because Moses was the intercessor for Israel, and 3) because only Moses asked God directly to "relent" from His anger towards Israel.
It is a prayer of intercession for God's people, asking God to relent of His anger and to have compassion on them. Though "God is their safe haven, they also experience His wrath because of their sin and their sentence of death that cuts their life short - a plea that through this long night of displeasure God will teach them true wisdom and in the morning after, bless them in equal measure with expressions of His love so that joy may yet fill their days and the days of their children and their daily labors be blessed." (NIV Study Bible text note on Psalm 90).
He prays that God's deeds be shown to His servants, His splendor to His children, for the ultimate purpose of His glory.
He prays that the Lord will establish the work of their hands, as opposed to them establishing it themselves. Ideally, their work would include the things which bring pleasure to God, namely righteousness, justice, mercy and peace.
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