Psalm 90
Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses that sets the shortness of human life against God, who is "from everlasting to everlasting." Our years are threescore and ten, soon cut off, so Moses prays "teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom," and asks God to establish the work of our hands.
Psalm 90 (KJV)
From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God v. 1-2
1Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
A thousand years as yesterday; man as grass v. 3-6
3Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
Teach us to number our days v. 7-12
7For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10The 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.
11Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Establish the work of our hands v. 13-17
13Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17And 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.
What Psalm 90 means
The psalm opens with God as a home: Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, God already was. Everything that follows is measured against that.
Next to God, human life is brief. A thousand years in his sight are as yesterday, or as a watch in the night. People are like grass that grows up in the morning and is cut down and withers by evening. God turns man to destruction and says, Return, ye children of men.
Moses does not treat death as only natural. He links our short days to God's anger at sin: our secret sins are set in the light of his countenance, and we spend our years as a tale that is told. Seventy years, or eighty by reason of strength, are still labour and sorrow, and then we fly away.
The response is not despair but a prayer for wisdom: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Counting our days rightly is meant to change how we live them.
The last section turns to hope. Moses asks God to return, to satisfy his people early with mercy so they can rejoice all their days, and to make them glad for as many days as they were afflicted. He ends by asking twice that God would establish the work of our hands, so that short lives would still leave something lasting.
Background and context
The superscription reads: A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Deuteronomy 33:1 uses the same title for Moses. If the heading is taken at face value, it is the oldest psalm in the book.
Psalm 90 opens Book IV of the Psalms (Psalms 90-106). Many readers connect its themes of wrath and short lives with Israel's forty years in the wilderness, when a generation died before entering the land.
Key verses
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Psalm 90:2 · KJV
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Psalm 90:4 · KJV
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Psalm 90:12 · KJV
Cross references
- Deuteronomy 33:1 Moses called the man of God, the same title as the superscriptionAnd this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
- Genesis 3:19 Unto dust shalt thou return, often read behind verse 3In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- 2 Peter 3:8 One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one dayBut, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
- Isaiah 40:6-8 All flesh is grass; the grass withereth, but the word of our God shall standThe voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
- Psalm 39:4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my daysLORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
- James 4:14 Life is even a vapour that appeareth for a little timeWhereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
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Common questions
Who wrote Psalm 90?
Its superscription calls it A Prayer of Moses the man of God. That makes it the only psalm with Moses' name on it.
What does teach us to number our days mean?
It is a prayer to understand how short life is, so that we live wisely. Verse 12 links the two directly: "that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
Does Psalm 90 say we live seventy years?
Verse 10 says "The days of our years are threescore years and ten," or fourscore (eighty) by reason of strength. It describes a typical lifespan, not a fixed limit for every person.
Is Psalm 90 read at funerals?
Yes, it is often read at funerals and memorial services, because it speaks honestly about death while placing human life in God's eternal care.
Morning, Not Monday
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Psalm 90 asks God to establish the work of our hands, and Morning, Not Monday is a Bible-based book on spending your days with daily habits that last.
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