The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 89
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 90 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our refuge in all generations.
Προσευχὴ τοῦ Μωυσῆ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Κύριε, καταφυγὴ ἐγενήθης ἡμῖν ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ.
Before the mountains existed, And before the earth and the world were formed, Even from age to age, thou art.
Πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη γενηθῆναι καὶ πλασθῆναι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ.
He adds, how He became our refuge, since He began to be that, viz. a refuge, to us which He had not been before, not that He had not existed before He became our refuge: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: and from age even unto age You are". Thou therefore who art for…
Turn not man back to his low place, Whereas thou saidst, Return, ye sons of men?
Μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς ἄνθρωπον εἰς ταπείνωσιν, καὶ εἶπας, ἐπιστρέψατε υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων;
But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in consequence of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. "Turn not Thou man to lowness": that is, let not man, turned aside from Your eternal and sublime…
For a thousand years in thy sight are As the yesterday which is past, And as a watch in the night.
Ὅτι χίλια ἔτη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἥτις διῆλθε, καὶ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτί.
"For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday, which is past by": hence we ought to turn to Your refuge, where You are without any change, from the fleeting scenes around us; since however long a time may be wished for for this life, "a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday:" not as tomorrow,…
Years shall be vanity to them: Let the morning pass away as grass.
Τὰ ἐξουδενώματα αὐτῶν ἔτη ἔσονται, τοπρωῒ ὡσεὶ χλόη παρέλθοι·
Next, the man of God, or rather the Prophetic spirit, seems to be reciting some law written in the secret wisdom of God, in which He has fixed a limit to the sinful life of mortals, and determined the troubles of mortality, in the following words: "Their years are as things which are nothing worth: in the morning let…
In the morning let it flower, and pass away: In the evening let it droop, let it be withered and dried up.
Τοπρωῒ ἀνθήσαι καὶ παρέλθοι, τὸ ἑσπέρας ἀποπέσοι, σκληρυνθείη καὶ ξηρανθείη.
"In the evening," it means after they come, "let it fall, and be dried up, and withered". It is "to fall" in death, be "dried up" in the corpse, "withered" in the dust. What is this but flesh, wherein is the accursed lust of fleshly things? "For all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of man as the flower of the…
For we have perished in thine anger, And in thy wrath we have been troubled.
Ὅτι ἐξελίπομεν ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ σου, καὶ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐταράχθημεν.
Making no secret that this fate is a penalty inflicted for sin, he adds at once, "For we consume away in Thy displeasure, and are troubled at Thy wrathful indignation": we consume away in our weakness, and are troubled from the fear of death; for we are become weak, and yet fearful to end that weakness. "Another,"…
Thou hast set our transgressions before thee: Our age is in the light of thy countenance.
Ἔθου τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν ἐνώπιόν σου, ὁ αἰὼν ἡμῶν εἰς φωτισμὸν τοῦ προσώπου σου.
"You have set our misdeeds before You": that is, You have not dissembled Your anger: "and our age in the light of Your countenance." "The light of Your countenance" answers to "before You," and to "our misdeeds," as above.
For all our days are gone, And we have passed away in thy wrath: Our years have spun out their tale as a spider.
Ὅτι πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν ἐξέλιπον, καὶ ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ σου ἐξελίπομεν· τὰ ἔτη ἡμῶν ὡς ἀράχνη ἐμελέτων.
"For all our days are failed, and in Thine anger we have failed". These words sufficiently prove that our subjection to death is a punishment. He speaks of our days failing, either because men fail in them from loving things that pass away, or because they are reduced to so small a number; which he asserts in the…
As for the days of our years, in them are seventy years; And if men should be in strength, eighty years: And the greater part of them would be labor and trouble; For weakness overtakes us, and we shall be chastened.
Αἱ ἡμέραι τῶν ἐτῶν ἡμῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη, ἐὰν δὲ ἐν δυναστείαις, ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη, καὶ τὸ πλεῖον αὐτῶν κόπος καὶ πόνος· ὅτι ἐπῆλθε πραΰτης ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς, καὶ παιδευθησόμεθα.
"The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is more of them but labour and sorrow". These words appear to express the shortness and misery of this life: since those who have reached their seventieth year are styled old men. Up to eighty,…
Who knows the power of thy wrath?
Τίς γινώσκει τὸ κράτος τῆς ὀργῆς σου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου τοῦ θυμοῦ σου ἐξαριθμήσασθαι;
"For who knows the power of Your wrath: and for the fear of You to number Your anger?". It belongs to very few men, he says, to know the power of Your wrath; for when Thou dost spare, Your anger is so far heavier against most men; that we may know that labour and sorrow belong not to wrath, but rather to Your mercy,…
And who knows how to number his days Because of the fear of thy wrath? So manifest thy right hand, And those that are instructed in wisdom in the heart.
τὴν δεξιάν σου οὕτως γνώρισον, καὶ τοὺς πεπαιδευμένους τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐν σοφίᾳ.
"Make Your right hand so well known". This is the reading of most of the Greek copies: not of some in Latin, which is thus, "Make Your right hand well known to me." What is, "Your right hand," but Your Christ, of whom it is said, And to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? [Isaiah 53:1] Make Him so well known, that…
Return, O Lord, how long? And be entreated concerning thy servants.
Ἐπίστρεψον, Κύριε· ἕως πότε; καὶ παρακλήθητι ἐπὶ τοῖς δούλοις σου.
And as when they became so well known, as to despise these things, and by setting their affections on things eternal, gave a testimony through their sufferings (whence they are called witnesses or martyrs in the Greek), they endured for a long while many bitter temporal afflictions. This man of God gives heed to this,…
We have been satisfied in the morning with thy mercy; And we did exult and rejoice:
Ἐνεπλήσθημεν τοπρωῒ τοῦ ἐλέους σου, καὶ ἠγαλλιασάμεθα καὶ εὐφράνθημεν· ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἡμῶν
Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says, "We are satisfied with Your mercy in the morning". Prophecy has thus been kindled for us, in the midst of these toils and sorrows of the night, like a lamp in the darkness, until day dawn, and the Day-star arise in our…
Let us rejoice in all our days, In return for the days wherein thou didst afflict us, The years wherein we saw evil.
εὐφρανθείημεν, ἀνθʼ ᾧν ἡμερῶν ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς, ἐτῶν ὧν εἴδομεν κακά.
And look upon thy servants, and upon thy works; And guide their children.
Καὶ ἴδε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους σου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ὁδήγησον τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν.
But now in days that are as yet evil, let us speak as follows. "Look upon Thy servants, and upon Thy works". For Thy servants themselves are Thy works, not only inasmuch as they are men, but as Thy servants, that is, obedient to Thy commands. For we are His workmanship, created not merely in Adam, but in Christ Jesus,…
And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: And do thou direct for us the works of our hands.
Καὶ ἔστω ἡ λαμπρότης Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς, καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν κατεύθυνον ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς.
"And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us"; whence the words, "O Lord, the light of Your countenance is marked upon us." And, "Make Thou straight the works of our hands upon us:" that we may do them not for hope of earthly reward: for then they are not straight, but crooked. In many copies the Psalm goes…
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