> [[psalm-89|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-91|Next →]] --- # Psalm 90 ## God’s Eternity and Human Frailty 1 A prayer of Moses, the man of God. ^psalm-90-1 ### I Lord, you have been our refuge through all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born, ^psalm-90-2 the earth and the world brought forth, from eternity to eternity you are God. 3 You turn humanity back into dust, ^psalm-90-3 saying, “Return, you children of Adam!” 4 A thousand years in your eyes ^psalm-90-4 are merely a day gone by, Before a watch passes in the night, 5 you wash them away; ^psalm-90-5 They sleep, and in the morning they sprout again like an herb. 6 In the morning it blooms only to pass away; ^psalm-90-6 in the evening it is wilted and withered. ### II 7 Truly we are consumed by your anger, ^psalm-90-7 filled with terror by your wrath. 8 You have kept our faults before you, ^psalm-90-8 our hidden sins in the light of your face. 9 Our life ebbs away under your wrath; ^psalm-90-9 our years end like a sigh. 10 Seventy is the sum of our years, ^psalm-90-10 or eighty, if we are strong; Most of them are toil and sorrow; they pass quickly, and we are gone. 11 Who comprehends the strength of your anger? ^psalm-90-11 Your wrath matches the fear it inspires. 12 Teach us to count our days aright, ^psalm-90-12 that we may gain wisdom of heart. ### III 13 Relent, O LORD! How long? ^psalm-90-13 Have pity on your servants! 14 Fill us at daybreak with your mercy, ^psalm-90-14 that all our days we may sing for joy. 15 Make us glad as many days as you humbled us, ^psalm-90-15 for as many years as we have seen trouble. 16 Show your deeds to your servants, ^psalm-90-16 your glory to their children. 17 May the favor of the Lord our God be ours. ^psalm-90-17 Prosper the work of our hands! Prosper the work of our hands! \* (Psalm 90) A communal lament that describes only in general terms the cause of the community’s distress. After confidently invoking God ([Ps 90:1]), the Psalm turns to a complaint contrasting God’s eternity with the brevity of human life ([Ps 90:2] – [6]) and sees in human suffering the punishment for sin ([Ps 90:7] – [12]). The Psalm concludes with a plea for God’s intervention ([Ps 90:13] – [17]). \* (90:3) Dust: one word of God is enough to return mortals to the dust from which they were created. Human beings were created from earth in [Gn 2:7]; [3:19]. \* (90:5) You wash them away: the Hebrew of [Ps 90:4] – [5] is unclear. \* (90:6) It is wilted and withered: the transitory nature of the grass under the scorching sun was proverbial, cf. [Ps 129:6]; [Is 40:6] – [8]. a. (90:2) [Ps 48:15]; [55:20]; [93:2]; [102:13]; [Heb 1:12]. b. (90:3) [Ps 103:14]; [104:29]; [146:4]; [Gn 3:19]; [1 Mc 2:63]; [Jb 34:14] – [15]; [Eccl 3:20]; [12:7]; [Sir 40:11]. c. (90:4) [2 Pt 3:8]. d. (90:5) [Ps 89:48]. e. (90:6) [Ps 37:2]; [102:11]; [103:15] – [16]; [Jb 14:1] – [2]; [Is 40:6] – [8]. f. (90:8) [Ps 109:14] – [15]; [Hos 7:2]. g. (90:9] – [10) [Ps 39:5] – [7]; [62:10]; [102:24] – [25]; [144:4]; [Gn 6:3]; [Jb 7:6], [16]; [14:5]; [Prv 10:27]; [Eccl 6:12]; ([[wisdom-02|Wis 2]]:5]; [[sirach-18|Sir 18]]:8; [Is 65:20]. h. (90:14) ([[psalm-17|Ps 17]]:15]. i. (90:15) [Nm 14:34]; [Jer 31:13]. j. (90:17) [Ps 33:22]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[psalm-89|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-91|Next →]]