1A prayer of Moses, man of God God, it seems you've been our home forever;
2long before the mountains were born, Long before you brought earth itself to birth, from "once upon a time" to "kingdom come"—you are God.
3So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!"
4Patience! You've got all the time in the world—whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you.
5Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass
6That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought?
7Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope.
8You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books.
9All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get?
10We 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.
11Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you?
12Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!
13Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?— and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
14Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long.
15Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
16Let your servants see what you're best at— the ways you rule and bless your children.
17And 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!