Psalms 90:1-17·~1 min

From Everlasting to Everlasting

The prayer begins by declaring that the Lord has been the dwelling place of his people in every generation. Before mountains, earth, or world existed, God already was from everlasting to everlasting. Human beings, by contrast, are returned to dust; a thousand years are like yesterday to God, and human life is swept away like sleep or grass that rises briefly in the morning before withering by evening.

A¹ prayer of Moses the man of God. ²Before the mountains were born ³You return man to dust, ⁴For in Your sight a thousand years ⁵You sweep them away in their sleep; ⁶in the morning it springs up new,

The psalmist explains that this frailty is not morally neutral, because human life is consumed under God's anger and exposed before his holy gaze. Secret sins are brought into the light of his presence, days pass under his wrath, and even the full span of life is marked by toil, trouble, and swift departure. The paragraph ends by asking who truly knows the power of God's anger and the fear that is due to him.

⁷For we are consumed by Your anger ⁸You have set our iniquities before You, ⁹For all our days decline in Your fury; ¹⁰The length of our days is seventy years — ¹¹Who knows the power of Your anger?

In response, the prayer asks God to teach his people to number their days so they may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹²So teach us to number our days,

The prayer shifts into direct petition: the LORD is asked to return and have compassion on his servants, to satisfy them each morning with steadfast love, and to grant gladness proportionate to the years of affliction. The psalmist asks that God's work be shown to his servants and his majesty to their children. It concludes by asking that the favor of the Lord rest on them and establish the work of their hands.

¹³Return, O LORD! How long will it be? ¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving devotion, ¹⁵Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, ¹⁶May Your work be shown to Your servants, ¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;

Section summaryThe psalm opens by naming the Lord as the dwelling place of his people through all generations and by confessing that before creation itself God already was from everlasting to everlasting. It then reflects on how human beings return to dust, how a thousand years are nothing before God, and how life passes like grass under the pressure of divine anger against sin. Out of that sobering vision comes the request to number our days rightly, followed by pleas for God to return in compassion, satisfy his servants with steadfast love, balance affliction with gladness, reveal his work, and establish the work of their hands.

Role in the chapterThis section trains God's people to face mortality honestly while turning that awareness into wisdom, humility, and dependence on divine favor.