Christianity

Psalms 90Teach Us to Number Our Days

Summary

Psalm 90, the only psalm headed a prayer of Moses the man of God, opens Book Four by contrasting God's eternity with human frailty. A thousand years are like yesterday to God, while human life passes like grass and lasts threescore years and ten, or fourscore with strength. The psalmist asks for wisdom to number our days, for God's compassion and gladness after years of affliction, and for the work of our hands to be established. It is widely read at funerals.

Key verse

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Psalms 90:12

Themes

Eternity of God
Brevity of Life
Wisdom
Mercy After Affliction

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

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.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

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.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

Islam
Surah Al-Hajj (22): A Day as a Thousand Years
Quran 22:47 says a Day with Allah is as a thousand years of human reckoning, the same contrast between divine and human time that Psalm 90:4 draws. The Quran makes the point to answer those who mock the delay of judgment.
Christianity
2 Peter 3: One Day as a Thousand Years
2 Peter 3:8 draws on Psalm 90:4 to explain the apparent delay of Christ's return, saying that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years.
Buddhism
Dhammapada 146 to 156: Old Age
The Dhammapada's chapter on old age asks what joy or laughter there can be when the flames are ever burning and describes the body as worn and frail. Like Psalm 90 it faces transience directly, though its remedy is insight and release rather than trust in an eternal God.

Questions about Psalms 90

Did Moses write Psalm 90?

Its heading calls it a prayer of Moses the man of God, which makes it traditionally the oldest psalm. Many scholars regard the heading as a later attribution reflecting Mosaic themes, such as God's anger and the wilderness generation.

What does 'threescore years and ten' mean?

Psalm 90:10 says human life lasts threescore years and ten, that is seventy years, or fourscore, eighty, for those with special strength. The verse is a reflection on brevity rather than a fixed lifespan.

Which hymn is based on Psalm 90?

Isaac Watts's O God, Our Help in Ages Past, published in 1719, paraphrases the opening of Psalm 90 and is still common at memorial services.