90 (2)Psalm 90 Version 27 6. 7 6. D
O GOD the Rock of Ages
   Who evermore hast been,
While life’s brief tempest rages,
    Our dwelling-place serene;
Before the world’s creation,
    O Lord, the same as now,
To endless generations,
    The everlasting Thou.
 
2  Our years are like the shadows
    On sunny hills that lie,
Or grasses in the meadows
    That blossom but to die:
A sleep, a dream, a story
    By strangers briefly told,
An unremaining glory
    Of things that soon are old.
 
3  O Thou Who cannot slumber,
    Whose light grows never pale,
Teach us aright to number
    Our years before they fail;
And may we find and know Thee,
    Thy kindness and Thy ways;
And Thou our Guide and Friend be,
    The Lord of all our days.
 
4  Lord, crown our faith’s endeavour,
    With glory and with grace,
Till, clothed in light for ever,
    We see Thee face to face;
A joy no language measures,
    A fountain brimming o’er,
An endless flow of pleasures
    In Christ for evermore.
 
Edward Henry Bickersteth, 1825-1906‡