1 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our resting-place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were made, before you had given birth to the earth and the world, before time was, and for ever, you are God. 3 You send man back to his dust; and say, Go back, you children of men. 4 For to you a thousand years are no more than yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. 5 ... 6 In the morning it is green; in the evening it is cut down, and becomes dry. 7 We are burned up by the heat of your passion, and troubled by your wrath. 8 You have put our evil doings before you, our secret sins in the light of your face. 9 For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath. 10 The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone. 11 Who has knowledge of the power of your wrath, or who takes note of the weight of your passion? 12 So give us knowledge of the number of our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. 13 Come back, O Lord; how long? let your purpose for your servants be changed. 14 In the morning give us your mercy in full measure; so that we may have joy and delight all our days. 15 Make us glad in reward for the days of our sorrow, and for the years in which we have seen evil. 16 Make your work clear to your servants, and your glory to their children. 17 Let the pleasure of the Lord our God be on us: O Lord, give strength to the work of our hands.
Psalms · Bible in Basic English
Psalm 90 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 33:27; 1 John 4:16; Psalm 71:3; Psalm 91:1; Ezekiel 11:16
- 2 Hebrews 13:8; Genesis 1:1; Psalm 102:24–27; Revelation 1:8; Psalm 93:2
- 3 Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Psalm 104:29; Psalm 146:4; Numbers 14:35
- 4 2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 39:5; Matthew 24:43; Luke 12:38; Matthew 14:25
- 5 Isaiah 40:6; Job 22:16; Psalm 73:20; 1 Peter 1:24; Psalm 103:15–16
- 6 Job 14:2; Psalm 92:7; James 1:11; Matthew 6:30
- 7 Psalm 39:11; Exodus 14:24; Numbers 17:12–13; Romans 2:8–9; Deuteronomy 2:14–16
- 8 Jeremiah 16:17; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Psalm 19:12; Hebrews 4:12–13; Jeremiah 23:24
- 9 Psalm 78:33; Psalm 39:5; Psalm 90:4
- 10 James 4:14; Psalm 78:39; 2 Samuel 19:35; Genesis 47:9; Deuteronomy 34:7
- 11 Nahum 1:6; Isaiah 33:14; Leviticus 26:24; Revelation 6:17; Deuteronomy 28:59
- 12 Ephesians 5:16–17; Psalm 39:4; John 9:4; Deuteronomy 32:29; Proverbs 4:7
- 13 Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 106:45; Psalm 135:14; Psalm 80:14; Jonah 3:9
- 14 Psalm 23:6; Psalm 85:6; Psalm 86:4; Psalm 31:7; Psalm 103:3–5
- 15 Psalm 30:5; Psalm 126:5–6; John 16:20; Isaiah 40:1–2; Isaiah 12:1
- 16 Habakkuk 3:2; Psalm 44:1; Deuteronomy 32:4; Deuteronomy 1:39; Numbers 14:15–24
- 17 Proverbs 16:3; 1 Corinthians 3:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:16–3:1; Job 22:28; Isaiah 26:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Understand, beloved, this Psalm, which I am about to explain, by the grace of God, of our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be of good cheer, because He who promised, will fulfil all, as He has fulfilled much: for it is not our own merit, but His mercy, that gives us confidence in Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… Abraham lived 175 of, and after him his son Isaac 180, and his son Jacob nearly 150, and some time after, Moses 120, and men now seventy or eighty, or not much longer, of which years it is said, "their strength is labor and sorrow." But that discrepancy of numbers which is found to exist between our own and the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Or if even this is so (for time flies, and a thousand years are in God's sight as one day, or as a watch in the night,) yet we cannot believe that He intended any such meaning on this occasion, especially as He went on to say, "Ye shall seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)