Psalm 90
Words: Isaac Watts
Note: there are versions in three metres on this page. L.M. &
S.M. below
Part 1. v.1-5 Man frail, and God eternal.
1 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2 Under the shadow of thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
3 Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4 Thy word commands our flesh to dust,
"Return, ye sons of men:"
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
5 A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an ev'ning gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
6 [The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.
7 Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op'ning day.
8 Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower's hand
Lie with'ring ere 'tis night.]
9 Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.Part 2. v. 8--12. Part 2 Infirmities and mortality the effect of sin.
1 Lord, if thine eye surveys our faults,
And justice grows severe,
Thy dreadful wrath exceeds our thoughts,
And burns beyond our fear.
2 Thine anger turns our frame to dust;
By one offence to thee
Adam with all his sons have lost
Their immortality.
3 Life, like a vain amusement, flies,
A fable or a song;
By swift degrees our nature dies,
Nor can our joys be long.
4 'Tis but a few whose days amount
To threescore years and ten;
And all beyond that short account
Is sorrow, toil, and pain.
5 [Our vitals with laborious strife
Bear up thc crazy load,
And drag those poor remains of life
Along thc tiresome road.]
6 Almighty God, reveal thy love,
And not thy wrath alone;
O let our sweet experience prove
The mercies of thy throne!
7 Our souls would learn the heav'nly art
T'improve the hours we have,
That we may act the wiser part,
And live beyond the grave.
Part 3. v.18,8&c. 1 Return, O God of love, return;
Earth is a tiresome place:
How long shall we, thy children, mourn
Our absence from thy face ?
2 Let heav'n succeed our painful years,
Let sin and sorrow cease,
And in proportion to our tears
So make our joys increase.
3 Thy wonders to thy servants show,
Make thy own work complete;
Then shall our souls thy glory know,
And own thy love was great.
4 Then shall we shine before thy throne
In all thy beauty, Lord;
And the poor service we have done
Meet a Divine reward.
Man mortal and God eternal A mournful song at a funeral
1 Through ev'ry age, eternal God,
I Thou art our rest, our safe abode;
High was thy throne ere heav'n was made,
Or earth thy humble footstool laid.
2 Long hadst thou reigned ere time began,
Or dust was fashioned to a man;
And long thy kingdom shall endure
When earth and time shall be no more.
3 But man, weak man, is born to die,
Made up of guilt and vanity;
Thy dreadful sentence, Lord, was just,
"Return, ye sinners, to your dust."
4 A thousand of our years amount
Scarce to a day in thine account;
Like yesterday's departed light,
Or the last watch of ending night.
PAUSE.
5 Death, like an overflowing stream,
Sweeps us away; our life's a dream,
An empty tale, a morning flower,
Cut down and withered in an hour.
6 [Our age to seventy years is set;
How short the time! how frail the state !
And if to eighty we arrive,
We rather sigh and groan than live.
7 But O how oft thy wrath appears,
And cuts off our expected years!
Thy wrath awakes our humble dread;
We fear the power that strikes us dead.]
8 Teach us, O Lord, how frail is man;
And kindly lengthen out our span,
Till a wise care of piety
Fit us to die, and dwell with thee.
V.5,10,12
The frailty and shortness of life.
1 Lord, what a feeble piece
Is this our mortal frame !
Our life how poor a trifle 'tis,
That scarce deserves the name !
2 Alas, the brittle clay
That built our body first!
And ev'ry month, and ev'ry day,
'Tis mould'ring back to dust.
3 Our moments fly apace,
Nor will our minutes stay;
Just like a flood, our hasty days
Are sweeping us away.
4 Well, if our days must fly,
We'11 keep their end in sight;
We'11 spend them all in wisdom's way,
And let them speed their flight.
5 They '11 waft us sooner o'er
This life's tempestuous sea;
Soon we shall reach the peaceful shore
Of blessed eternity.
