Psalms 90:8-17

Context

90:8 You are aware of our sins;¹

you even know about our hidden sins.²

90:9 Yes,³ throughout all our days we experience your raging fury;⁴

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh.⁵

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years,⁶

or eighty, if one is especially strong.⁷

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression.⁸

Yes,⁹ they pass quickly¹⁰ and we fly away.¹¹

90:11 Who can really fathom the intensity of your anger?¹²

Your raging fury causes people to fear you.¹³

90:12 So teach us to consider our mortality,¹⁴

so that we might live wisely.¹⁵

90:13 Turn back toward us, O Lord!

How long must this suffering last?¹⁶

Have pity on your servants!¹⁷

90:14 Satisfy us in the morning¹⁸ with your loyal love!

Then we will shout for joy and be happy¹⁹ all our days!

90:15 Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,

in proportion to the years we have experienced²⁰ trouble!

90:16 May your servants see your work!²¹

May their sons see your majesty!²²

90:17 May our sovereign God extend his favor to us!²³

Make our endeavors successful!

Yes, make them successful!²⁴

[90:8] ¹tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8] ²tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.

[90:9] ³tn Or “for.”

[90:9] ⁴tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9] ⁵tn Heb “we finish our years like a sigh.” In Ezek 2:10 the word הֶגֶה (hegeh) elsewhere refers to a grumbling or moaning sound. Here a brief sigh or moan is probably in view. If so, the simile pictures one’s lifetime as transient. Another option is that the simile alludes to the weakness that characteristically overtakes a person at the end of one’s lifetime. In this case the phrase could be translated, “we end our lives with a painful moan.”

[90:10] ⁶tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10] ⁷tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10] ⁸tn Heb “and their pride [is] destruction and wickedness.” The Hebrew noun רֹהַב (rohav) occurs only here. BDB 923 s.v. assigns the meaning “pride,” deriving the noun from the verbal root רהב (“to act stormily [boisterously, arrogantly]”). Here the “pride” of one’s days (see v. 9) probably refers to one’s most productive years in the prime of life. The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 10:7. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10. The oppressive and abusive actions of evil men are probably in view (see Job 4:8; 5:6; 15:35; Isa 10:1; 59:4).

[90:10] ⁹tn or “for.”

[90:10] ¹⁰tn Heb “it passes quickly.” The subject of the verb is probably “their pride” (see the preceding line). The verb גּוּז (guz) means “to pass” here; it occurs only here and in Num 11:31.

[90:10] ¹¹sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[90:11] ¹²tn Heb “Who knows the strength of your anger?”

[90:11] ¹³tn Heb “and like your fear [is] your raging fury.” Perhaps one should emend וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ (ukhyir’otekh, “and like your fear”) to יִרְאָתְךְ (yir’otkh, “your fear”), understanding a virtual dittography (אַפֶּךָ וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ, ’apekha ukhyir’otekh) to have occurred. In this case the psalmist asserts “your fear [is] your raging fury,” that is, your raging fury is what causes others to fear you. The suffix on “fear” is understood as objective.

[90:12] ¹⁴tn Heb “to number our days,” that is, to be aware of how few they really are.

[90:12] ¹⁵tn Heb “and we will bring a heart of wisdom.” After the imperative of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates purpose/result. The Hebrew term “heart” here refers to the center of one’s thoughts, volition, and moral character.

[90:13] ¹⁶tn Heb “Return, O Lord! How long?”

[90:13] ¹⁷tn Elsewhere the Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) + the preposition עַל (’al) + a personal object has the nuance “be comforted concerning [the personal object’s death]” (see 2 Sam 13:39; Jer 31:15). However, here the context seems to demand “feel sorrow for,” “have pity on.” In Deut 32:36 and Ps 135:14, where “servants” is also the object of the preposition, this idea is expressed with the Hitpael form of the verb.

[90:14] ¹⁸sn Morning is used metaphorically for a time of renewed joy after affliction (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 49:14; 59:16; 143:8).

[90:14] ¹⁹tn After the imperative (see the preceding line) the cohortatives with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose/result.

[90:15] ²⁰tn Heb “have seen.”

[90:16] ²¹tn Heb “may your work be revealed to your servants.” In this context (note v. 17) the verb form יֵרָאֶה (yera’eh) is best understood as an unshortened jussive (see Gen 1:9; Isa 47:3).

[90:16] ²²tn Heb “and your majesty to their sons.” The verb “be revealed” is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[90:17] ²³tn Heb “and may the delight of the Master, our God, be on us.” The Hebrew term נֹעַם (no’am, “delight”) is used in Ps 27:4 of the Lord’s “beauty,” but here it seems to refer to his favor (see BDB 653 s.v.) or kindness (HALOT 706 s.v.).

[90:17] ²⁴tn Heb “and the work of our hands establish over us, and the work of our hands, establish it.”