Psalms 90
1 A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
World Behind This Chapter
Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Psalms 90.
How historical is the superscription 'A Prayer of Moses'?
The heading associates the psalm with Moses and suits themes of wilderness-generation mortality, but the poem itself does not narrate a Mosaic event. Attribution and composition date therefore remain distinct questions.
What stands out about a prayer of Moses contrasting divine eternity with human brevity and asking for wise numbering of days in Psalm 90?
Psalm 90 builds its movement around a prayer of Moses contrasting divine eternity with human brevity and asking for wise numbering of days. Tracking repeated words, parallel lines, changes of speaker, and image clusters shows how the poem develops before assigning a later interpretation.
What world does Psalm 90 ask the reader to picture?
The poem evokes human dwelling across generations. Those settings may be literal, remembered, ritual, or metaphorical; distinguishing those possibilities is part of reading Hebrew poetry carefully.
Research PathsCurated links for exploring this chapter 2
Language & Literature2
- Psalm 90: NET Bible Translation NotesNET Bible
Translation notes clarify the heading identifying the poem with Moses, the contrast between divine eternity and human mortality, returning humanity to dust, a thousand years, grass that withers, numbering one’s days, and establishing the work of human hands.
- Psalms 90–92: Text, Images, and MusicRevue des Sciences Religieuses
Browser-readable academic study of the Jewish and Christian reception of Psalms 90–92 in interpretation, poetry, liturgy, art, and music. For Psalm 90, it helps readers see how its reflections on divine eternity, mortality, time, and human labor shaped later cultural traditions.
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