The story behind the hymn
In 1719 Isaac Watts published The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament — the entire Psalter recast for Christian singing. His rendering of Psalm 90, Moses' great meditation on eternity and mortality, became the most enduring of them all: O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come.
Watts compresses the psalm's vast arithmetic — a thousand ages in thy sight are like an evening gone — and its honesty about human brevity: time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away; they fly, forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day. Against that stream stands one shelter: under the shadow of thy throne thy saints have dwelt secure.
The hymn was written under a queen's death and the uncertainty of a new age, and it has served every such moment since — sung at Churchill's funeral, at national remembrances, at the graves of the great and the unknown alike. Its last stanza turns memory into petition: be thou our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home.
The lyrics
O God, our help in ages past,Our hope for years to come,Our shelter from the stormy blast,And our eternal home:
Under the shadow of Thy throneThy saints have dwelt secure;Sufficient is Thine arm alone,And our defence is sure.
Before the hills in order stood,Or earth received her frame,From everlasting Thou art God,To endless years the same.
A thousand ages in Thy sightAre like an evening gone;Short as the watch that ends the nightBefore the rising sun.
Time, like an ever rolling stream,Bears all its sons away;They fly, forgotten, as a dreamDies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past,Our hope for years to come,Be Thou our guard while troubles last,And our eternal home.
Public domain. Free to sing, copy, print, and share.
The Scripture behind it
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
The dwelling place in all generations — the hymn's first line.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
A thousand years as yesterday — Watts' fourth stanza is this verse in metre.