Satisfy us in the morning: Psalm 90

The last six verses of Psalm 90, “A Prayer of Moses the man of God”. The Orthodox Church reads this psalm at the First Hour, its short morning service.

Picture: Charles Edward Perugini, Ephemeral Joy, undated

Plain English

Teach us to number our days,so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Turn back, O Lord! How long?Have pity on Your servants.

Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love,so that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,for as many years as we have seen trouble.

Let Your servants see Your work,and their children Your glory.

Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us.Establish the work of our hands for us;yes, establish the work of our hands.

Traditional wording, 1906

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Turn Thee again, O Lord, at the last, and be gracious unto Thy servants.

O satisfy us with Thy mercy, and that soon:so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

Comfort us again now after the time that Thou hast plagued us;and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity.

Show Thy servants Thy work, and their children Thy glory.

And the glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us:prosper Thou the work of our hands upon us;O prosper Thou our handy-work.

Plain English by Wiser Walk, from the Hebrew, with Hapgood’s 1906 service book beside it. How the wording is made. Traditional wording: Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church, 1906.

When it is said

The Orthodox Church reads Psalm 90 at the First Hour, one of its short services of the day.

This page gives the psalm’s last six verses. Anyone may pray them, at any hour. They suit the start of a day.

Where it comes from

Author by tradition

A prayer of Moses

Psalm 90’s heading reads “A Prayer of Moses the man of God”. Moses is the prophet God sent to lead His people out of Egypt. Most of the psalm is about how short life is: a thousand years in God’s sight are like yesterday, and our days are seventy years, or eighty for the strong. Then, in these last verses, the psalm asks for joy.

The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre; Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906), the First Hour

Every morning at the First Hour

The First Hour has three psalms: Psalm 5, Psalm 90 and Psalm 101. Isabel Hapgood’s English service book of 1906 explains that it thanks God for the light of day. By the Church’s reckoning it falls at seven in the morning.

Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906), the First Hour

What the words mean

In the morning, or soon?

Hapgood took her psalms from the English Book of Common Prayer, which asks God to satisfy us “and that soon”. The Hebrew says “in the morning”, as the 1917 Jewish Publication Society version has it: “O satisfy us in the morning with Thy mercy”. This page keeps the morning.

Isabel F. Hapgood, Service Book (1906), preface and the First Hour; The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre

The Scripture in it

So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving devotion, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil. May Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!

Psalm 90:12-17 Quoted The prayer is these six verses, word for word.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.

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