Psalms 89
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 89 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
14 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (5) follow the text.
Psalms 89
1(90) A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, you have been our refuge in all generations.Προσευχὴ τοῦ Μωυσῆ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Κύριε, καταφυγὴ ἐγενήθης ἡμῖν ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ.
2Before the mountains existed, and before the earth and the world were formed, even from age to age, You are.Πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη γενηθῆναι καὶ πλασθῆναι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ.
3Turn not man back to his low place, whereas you said, Return, you sons of men?Μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς ἄνθρωπον εἰς ταπείνωσιν, καὶ εἶπας, ἐπιστρέψατε υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων;
4For a thousand years in your 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.
5Years shall be * vanity to them: let the morning pass away as grass.Τὰ ἐξουδενώματα αὐτῶν ἔτη ἔσονται, τοπρωῒ ὡσεὶ χλόη παρέλθοι·
6In 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.
7For we have perished in your anger, and in your wrath we have been troubled.Ὅτι ἐξελίπομεν ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ σου, καὶ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐταράχθημεν.
8You have set our transgressions before you: our age is in the light of your countenance.Ἔθου τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν ἐνώπιόν σου, ὁ αἰὼν ἡμῶν εἰς φωτισμὸν τοῦ προσώπου σου.
9For all our days are gone, and we have passed away in your 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.
10As 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.
11Who knows the power of your wrath?Τίς γινώσκει τὸ κράτος τῆς ὀργῆς σου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου τοῦ θυμοῦ σου ἐξαριθμήσασθαι;
12and who knows how to number his days because of the fear of your wrath? So manifest your right hand, and those that are instructed in wisdom in the heart.τὴν δεξιάν σου οὕτως γνώρισον, καὶ τοὺς πεπαιδευμένους τῇ καρδίᾳ ἐν σοφίᾳ.
13Return, O Lord, how long? and § be entreated concerning your servants.Ἐπίστρεψον, Κύριε· ἕως πότε; καὶ παρακλήθητι ἐπὶ τοῖς δούλοις σου.
14We have been satisfied in the morning with your mercy; and we did exult and rejoice:Ἐνεπλήσθημεν τοπρωῒ τοῦ ἐλέους σου, καὶ ἠγαλλιασάμεθα καὶ εὐφράνθημεν· ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἡμῶν
15let us rejoice in all our days, in return for the days wherein you did afflict us, the years wherein we saw evil.εὐφρανθείημεν, ἀνθʼ ᾧν ἡμερῶν ἐταπείνωσας ἡμᾶς, ἐτῶν ὧν εἴδομεν κακά.
16And look upon your servants, and upon your works; and guide their children.Καὶ ἴδε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους σου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ὁδήγησον τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν.
17And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us: and do you ** 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.
Translator's Notes
These notes come from the printed edition of Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), and record where the Greek differs from the English rendering or admits more than one reading.
- v. 5*Gr. their vanities or rejections.
- v. 9†Gr. mediated.
- v. 10‡Or, what is more than these. § 89:13
- v. 17**Or, prosper.
- v. 17††Alex. + yes, prosper you the work of our hands.
The Fathers on Psalms 89
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 89:1Saint Augustine of Hippo2. “Lord,” he saith, “Thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another” (ver. 1): either in every generation, or in two generations, the old and new: because, as I said, he was the Minister of the Testament that related to the old generation, and the Prophet of the Testament which appertained to the new. Jesus Himself, the Surety of that covenant, and the Bridegroom in the marriage which He entered into…
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On Psalms 89:2Saint Augustine of Hippo3. 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 Thou art” (ver. 2). Thou therefore who art for ever, and before we were, and before the world was, hast become our refuge ever…
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On Psalms 89:3Saint Augustine of Hippo4. 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” (ver. 3): that is, let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is what God…
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On Psalms 89:4Saint Augustine of Hippo5. “For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, which is past by” (ver. 4): hence we ought to turn to Thy refuge, where Thou art 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 Thy sight are but as yesterday:” not as to-morrow, which is to come: for all limited periods of time are reckoned as having already passed.…
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On Psalms 89:5–6Saint Augustine of Hippo6. 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 it fade away like the grass” (ver. 5). The happiness therefore of the heirs of the old…
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On Psalms 89:7Saint Augustine of Hippo7. 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” (ver. 7): 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,” saith He, “shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not:” although not to…
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On Psalms 89:8Saint Augustine of Hippo8. “Thou hast set our misdeeds before Thee” (ver. 8): that is, Thou hast not dissembled Thine anger: “and our age in the light of Thy countenance.” “The light of Thy countenance” answers to “before Thee,” and to “our misdeeds,” as above.
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On Psalms 89:9Saint Augustine of Hippo9. “For all our days are failed, and in Thine anger we have failed” (ver. 9). 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 following lines: “our years are spent in thought like a spider.” “The days of our age are…
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On Psalms 89:11Saint Augustine of Hippo11. “For who knoweth the power of Thy wrath: and for the fear of Thee to number Thine anger?” (ver. 11). It belongs to very few men, he saith, to know the power of Thy wrath; for when Thou dost spare, Thy anger is so far heavier against most men; that we may know that labour and sorrow belong not to wrath, but rather to Thy mercy, when Thou chastenest and teachest those whom Thou lovest, to save them from the…
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On Psalms 89:12Saint Augustine of Hippo12. “Make Thy right hand so well known” (ver. 12). This is the reading of most of the Greek copies: not of some in Latin, which is thus, “Make Thy right hand well known to me.” What is, “Thy right hand,” but Thy Christ, of whom it is said, And to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed? Make Him so well known, that Thy faithful may learn in Him to ask and to hope for those things rather of Thee as rewards of their…
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On Psalms 89:13Saint Augustine of Hippo14. 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 giveth heed to this, and the prophetic spirit under the name of Moses continues thus, “Return, O Lord, how long?…
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On Psalms 89:14–15Saint Augustine of Hippo15. Next, in anticipation of future blessings, of which he speaks as already vouchsafed, he says, “We are satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning” (ver. 14). 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 hearts. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: then shall the…
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On Psalms 89:16Saint Augustine of Hippo16. But now in days that are as yet evil, let us speak as follows. “Look upon Thy servants, and upon Thy works” (ver. 16). 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, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them: “for…
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On Psalms 89:17Open Psalms 89 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo17. “And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us” (ver. 17); whence the words, “O Lord, the light of Thy 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 thus far, but in some there is found an additional verse at the end, as follows,…
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