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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Psalm 90 -- translation by author Miriyam Glazer, Ph.D. (2009)

[From Psalms From Jewish Liturgy: a guide to their beauty, power, and meaning: Aviv Press]
A prayer for Moses, a man of God / / /
Generation after generation, Adonai, You have been our refuge.
Before the mountains were born, before the earth
and the world itself writhed into life;
forever and forever You have been God.
But us You return to mere dust (daka), as if saying,
"Go back to the earth, children of the earth."

Though in Your eyes a thousand years a fleeting yesterday, passing as if in a dream,
we are like grass -
like grass that flourishes in the morning sun but by evening withers and dies.
For it is Your anger that devours us,
Your rage that fills us with terror.
You lay out all of our faults, You shine Your light on our most secret sins.
In the presence of Your anger,
our days slip away --
our whole lives seem no more than a whisper (hegeh). 
Our lives last for 70 years --
and if we have strength, 80.
Most of them are hard work and sadness and pass by too quickly before we're cut down.
The full force of Your anger is as immeasurable as the fear many feel toward You.

Adonai, teach us how to make each of our days matter
so that our hearts may become wise.
Come back to us, Adonai,
how long must we wait for Your compassion!
Save us with Your kindness every morning
and our whole lives will brim with gladness and joy --
Give us joy equal to the sorrow we've suffered,
the years we felt only pain.
Let this, Your goodness, be revealed to all who pray to You.
Let our children see Your glory.
May we ourselves feel Your loveliness, Adonai,
our God, and may the works of our own hands be realized, the works of our own hands
be realized!

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