King James Version
Psalms 90
17 verses with commentary
From Everlasting to Everlasting
A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. A Prayer: or, A Prayer, being a Psalm of Moses in: Heb. in generation and generation
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.</strong> This opening verse of Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, establishes God's eternal faithfulness across all human generations. Against the backdrop of human mortality and brevity developed throughout the psalm, verse 1 anchors hope in God's unchanging character and perpetual availability as refuge for His people...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **Dwelling place.**—LXX. and Vulg., “refuse,” possibly reading *maôz *(as in Psalm 37:39) instead of *maôn. *So some MSS. But Deuteronomy 33:17 has the feminine of this latter word, and the idea of a *continued abode *strikes the key-note of the psalm. The short duration of each succeeding generation of men on the earth is contrasted with the eternity of God and the permanence given to Israel ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 90
Chapter Outline
The eternity of God, the frailty of man.(1-6)
Submission to Divine chastisements.(7-11)
Prayer for mercy and grace.(12-17)
**Verses 1-6**
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is ...
Read full commentary →Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.</strong> This verse expands the opening's theme, moving from God's faithfulness across human generations to His existence before all creation and throughout all eternity. This is among Scripture's most profound declarations of God's eternality and ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Before the mountains.**—Render either,
“Before the mountains were born,
Or ever the earth and world were brought forth,”
in synonymous parallelism, or, better, in progressive,
“Before the mountains were born,
Or ever the earth and world brought forth”—
*i.e., *before vegetation or life appeared. (Comp. Job 15:7.) “Mountains” are a frequent symbol of antiquity, as well as of enduring strength...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 61 Psa 61:1-8. Neginah--or, Neginoth (see on Psa 4:1, title). Separated from his usual spiritual privileges, perhaps by Absalom's rebellion, the Psalmist prays for divine aid, and, in view of past mercies, with great confidence of being heard.
**1-3. From the end--**that is, places remote from the sanctuary (De 28:64).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 90
Chapter Outline
The eternity of God, the frailty of man.(1-6)
Submission to Divine chastisements.(7-11)
Prayer for mercy and grace.(12-17)
**Verses 1-6**
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is ...
Read full commentary →Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.</strong> This verse reveals the sovereign paradox at the heart of human mortality—God both judges humanity with death and calls humanity to repentance. The same divine voice that pronounces destruction also summons return. This reflects the tension between God's holiness requiring judgment and His mercy offering resto...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Thou turnest . . .**—Probably we must render, *Thou turnest man to dust; and sayest, Turn, sons of Adam*—*i.e., *one generation dies and another succeeds (see Psalm 104:29-30), the continuance of the race being regarded as distinctly due to Divine power as the Creation, to which there is probably allusion.
The LXX. suggest as the true reading, “Turn not man to dust, but say rather,” &c.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 61 Psa 61:1-8. Neginah--or, Neginoth (see on Psa 4:1, title). Separated from his usual spiritual privileges, perhaps by Absalom's rebellion, the Psalmist prays for divine aid, and, in view of past mercies, with great confidence of being heard.
**1-3. From the end--**that is, places remote from the sanctuary (De 28:64).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 90
Chapter Outline
The eternity of God, the frailty of man.(1-6)
Submission to Divine chastisements.(7-11)
Prayer for mercy and grace.(12-17)
**Verses 1-6**
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is ...
Read full commentary →For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. when: or, when he hath passed them
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.</strong> This verse explains why God has been faithful across all generations (v.1) and exists eternally (v.2)—His perspective on time differs radically from ours. What seems like vast spans to finite humans is but a moment to the eternal God. This relativization of time addresses both desp...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **A thousand years.**—This verse, which, when Peter II. was written (see *New Testament Commentary*), had already begun to receive an arithmetical treatment, and to be made the basis for Millennarian computations, merely contrasts the unchangeableness and eternity of the Divine existence and purpose with the vicissitudes incident to the brief life of man. To One who is from the infinite past t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 61 Psa 61:1-8. Neginah--or, Neginoth (see on Psa 4:1, title). Separated from his usual spiritual privileges, perhaps by Absalom's rebellion, the Psalmist prays for divine aid, and, in view of past mercies, with great confidence of being heard.
**1-3. From the end--**that is, places remote from the sanctuary (De 28:64).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 90
Chapter Outline
The eternity of God, the frailty of man.(1-6)
Submission to Divine chastisements.(7-11)
Prayer for mercy and grace.(12-17)
**Verses 1-6**
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is ...
Read full commentary →Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. groweth: or, is changed
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.</strong> This verse develops the theme of human transience through three vivid metaphors: flood, sleep, and grass. Each image emphasizes the swift, inevitable, and overwhelming nature of death that sweeps away mortal life. Moses uses natural imagery familiar to his audience to...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5, 6) The following is suggested as the most satisfactory rendering of these verses: *Time *(literally, a *year; *but the root-idea is the *repetition *or *change of the seasons*)* carries them away with its flood; they are in the morning like grass sprouting; in the morning it flourishes and sprouts, in the evening it is cut down and withered.*
This is obtained by taking the verb as third femini...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. I will abide--**So I desire to do (compare Psa 23:6).
**trust in the covert, &c.--**make my refuge, in the shadow (compare Psa 17:8; 36:7).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 90
Chapter Outline
The eternity of God, the frailty of man.(1-6)
Submission to Divine chastisements.(7-11)
Prayer for mercy and grace.(12-17)
**Verses 1-6**
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is ...
Read full commentary →In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.</strong> This verse completes the grass metaphor begun in verse 5, compressing an entire lifecycle into a single day. The parallelism between morning and evening, flourishing and withering, growth and cutting down emphasizes the shocking brevity of human life from God's eternal perspective. What se...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. the heritage--**or, part in the spiritual blessings of Israel (Psa 21:2-4).
**vows--**implies prayers.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 90
Chapter Outline
The eternity of God, the frailty of man.(1-6)
Submission to Divine chastisements.(7-11)
Prayer for mercy and grace.(12-17)
**Verses 1-6**
It is supposed that this psalm refers to the sentence passed on Israel in the wilderness, Nu 14. The favour and protection of God are the only sure rest and comfort of the soul in this evil world. Christ Jesus is ...
Read full commentary →For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.</strong> This verse shifts from describing mortality's effects (v.3-6) to explaining its cause: divine anger against sin. The "for" (<em>ki</em>) indicates this verse provides the reason for humanity's swift withering like grass. Death isn't natural or neutral but judicial—God's wrath against human rebellion manifests in...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **We.**—The change to the first person plural shows that the poet was not merely moralising on the brevity of human life, but uttering a dirge over the departed glory of Israel. Instead of proving superior to vicissitude the covenant race had shared it.
**Troubled.**—Comp. Psalm 48:6. Better here, *frightened away.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6-7. the king--**himself and his royal line ending in Christ. Mercy and truth personified, as in Psa 40:11; 57:3.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
The afflictions of the saints often come from God's love; but the rebukes of sinners, and of believers for their sins, must be seen coming from the displeasure of God. Secret sins are known to God, and shall be reckoned for. See the folly of those who go about to cover their sins, for they cannot do so. Our years, when gone, can no more be recalled than the words that we have s...
Read full commentary →Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.</strong> This verse explains why God's wrath consumes humanity (v.7)—our sins are exposed before His holy presence. The parallelism between "iniquities" and "secret sins," and between "before thee" and "in the light of thy countenance" emphasizes that nothing is hidden from God's penetrating gaze. Al...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Our secret** **sins.**—Or, to keep the singular of the original, *our secret *(character).
The expression, “light of God’s countenance,” usually means “favour.” But here the word rendered light is not the usual one employed in that expression, but rather means a body of light: “the sun (or eye) of Thy countenance.” Comp.:
“Then Seeva opened on the accursed one
His eye of anger.”
SOUTHEY: *Cu...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6-7. the king--**himself and his royal line ending in Christ. Mercy and truth personified, as in Psa 40:11; 57:3.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
The afflictions of the saints often come from God's love; but the rebukes of sinners, and of believers for their sins, must be seen coming from the displeasure of God. Secret sins are known to God, and shall be reckoned for. See the folly of those who go about to cover their sins, for they cannot do so. Our years, when gone, can no more be recalled than the words that we have s...
Read full commentary →For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. passed: Heb. turned away as a: or, as a meditation
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.</strong> This verse concludes the lament section (v.7-9), summarizing human existence under divine wrath. Life is characterized by swift passing and ultimate futility—days consumed by wrath, years passing like a briefly told story. The verse's somber tone reflects Moses's experience watching an entire...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Are passed** **away.**—Better, *are declining.*
**A** **tale.**—Rather, *a murmur. *(See Note, Psalm 1:2.) Probably, from the parallelism with *wrath, *a moan of sadness. So in Ezekiel 2:10, “a sound of woe.” Since the cognate verb often means “meditate,” some render here *thought. *Theognis says,
“Gallant youth speeds by like a thought.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. Thus for new blessings will new vows of praise ever be paid.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
The afflictions of the saints often come from God's love; but the rebukes of sinners, and of believers for their sins, must be seen coming from the displeasure of God. Secret sins are known to God, and shall be reckoned for. See the folly of those who go about to cover their sins, for they cannot do so. Our years, when gone, can no more be recalled than the words that we have s...
Read full commentary →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. The days: Heb. As for the days of our years, in them are seventy years
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> This verse describes the human lifespan's brevity and difficulty, contrasting sharply with God's eternality. After establishing God's timeless existence (v.1-2) and different perspective on time ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Yet is their strength . . .**—The LXX. (and so Vulg.) appear to have had a slightly different reading, which gives much better sense: “Yet their additional years are but labour and sorrow.” The old man has no reason to congratulate himself on passing the ordinary limit, of life.
**For it is soon cut off.**—This seems hardly to give, as it professes to do, a reason for the fact that the prol...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
The afflictions of the saints often come from God's love; but the rebukes of sinners, and of believers for their sins, must be seen coming from the displeasure of God. Secret sins are known to God, and shall be reckoned for. See the folly of those who go about to cover their sins, for they cannot do so. Our years, when gone, can no more be recalled than the words that we have s...
Read full commentary →Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.</strong> This verse transitions from describing God's wrath (v.7-9) to acknowledging that its full extent remains incomprehensible. The rhetorical question "Who knoweth?" implies no one adequately understands divine anger's power. The second clause suggests that proper fear of God should correspond to the re...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Who knoweth . . .**—Better,
Who regardeth Thine anger
And—in a measure due to reverence—Thy wrath?
*Who *(no doubt with thought of Israel’s enemies) *has that just terror of Thy wrath which a truly reverential regard would produce*? It is only the persons who have that fearful and bowed apprehension of His Majesty, and that sacred dread of all offence to Him, which is called the “fear of Go...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
PSALM 62 Psa 62:1-12. To Jeduthun--(See on Psa 39:1, title). The general tone of this Psalm is expressive of confidence in God. Occasion is taken to remind the wicked of their sin, their ruin, and their meanness.
**1. waiteth--**literally, "is silent," trusts submissively and confidently as a servant.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-11**
The afflictions of the saints often come from God's love; but the rebukes of sinners, and of believers for their sins, must be seen coming from the displeasure of God. Secret sins are known to God, and shall be reckoned for. See the folly of those who go about to cover their sins, for they cannot do so. Our years, when gone, can no more be recalled than the words that we have s...
Read full commentary →So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. apply: Heb. cause to come
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.</strong> This verse pivots from lament over mortality (v.3-11) to prayer for divine wisdom. Having established human brevity and God's eternality, Moses now prays that awareness of mortality would produce not despair but wisdom—living purposefully within our limited time. This is the psalm's practical application: le...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Number our days.**—This verse as it stands literally gives *to allot, *or *in allotting *(see Isaiah 65:12), *our days, so teach, and we will cause to come the heart wisdom. *The last clause, if intelligible at all, must mean “that we may offer a wise heart,” and the natural way to understand the verse is to make God, not man, as in the Authorised Version, the reckoner of the days. “In allo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
2. The titles applied to God often occur (Psa 9:9; 18:2).
**be greatly moved--**(Psa 10:6). No injury shall be permanent, though devised by enemies.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
Those who would learn true wisdom, must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit; and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favour. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favour would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in...
Read full commentary →Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.</strong> This verse marks dramatic shift from lament (v.3-11) to petition (v.13-17). Having described human mortality and divine wrath, Moses now pleads for God to return in mercy. The petition uses covenant language—addressing Yahweh by His covenant name and appealing to Israel's status as His servants. This is bold...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Return.**—Better, *turn, *either from anger (Exodus 32:12), or merely as in Psalm 6:4, “turn to thy servant.”
Plainly we have here the experience of some particular epoch, and a prayer for Israel. From his meditation on the shortness of human existence the poet does not pass to a prayer for a prolonged life for himself, like Hezekiah, but for some intervention in relief of the suffering com...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
3. Their destruction will come; as a tottering wall they already are feeble and failing.
**bowing wall shall ye be--**better supply "are." Some propose to apply these phrases to describe the condition of "a man"--that is, the pious suffer: thus, "Will ye slay him," &c.; but the other is a good sense.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
Those who would learn true wisdom, must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit; and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favour. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favour would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in...
Read full commentary →O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.</strong> After pleading for God to return (v.13), Moses now requests specific blessing: satisfaction through divine mercy that produces lifelong joy. The petition contrasts sharply with earlier descriptions of life consumed by wrath (v.7-9). Moses prays that instead of spending years under wrath as a meaningle...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Early**—*i.e., *in the morning of new hope and courage after the night of affliction is spent. (See Psalm 46:5.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. his excellency--**or, elevation to which God had raised him (Psa 4:2). This they try to do by lies and duplicity (Psa 5:9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
Those who would learn true wisdom, must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit; and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favour. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favour would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in...
Read full commentary →Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.</strong> This verse requests that joy match previous suffering in both intensity and duration. Moses doesn't ask God to erase memory of affliction but to provide corresponding gladness that balances previous sorrow. The petition reflects biblical principle that suffering's depth can ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) A prayer that prosperity may follow, proportionate to the mercy that has been endured.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-6. (Compare Psa 62:1, 2).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
Those who would learn true wisdom, must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit; and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favour. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favour would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in...
Read full commentary →Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.</strong> This verse requests visible divine intervention for the present generation ("thy servants") and enduring legacy for the next generation ("their children"). Moses prays that God's redemptive work would be manifest now and that the glory of that work would impact future generations. This reflects biblical conc...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5-6. (Compare Psa 62:1, 2).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
Those who would learn true wisdom, must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit; and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favour. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favour would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in...
Read full commentary →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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> This closing verse of Psalm 90 completes the movement from lament over human mortality to prayer for divine blessing. After acknowledging life's brevity and praying for wisdom to use time well (v.12), Moses now prays that God's beauty w...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Beauty.**—Or, *pleasantness. *The Hebrew word, like the Greek χάρις*, *and our “grace,” seems to combine the ideas of “beauty” and “favour.”
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. rock of my strength--**or strongest support (Psa 7:10; 61:3).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
Those who would learn true wisdom, must pray for Divine instruction, must beg to be taught by the Holy Spirit; and for comfort and joy in the returns of God's favour. They pray for the mercy of God, for they pretend not to plead any merit of their own. His favour would be a full fountain of future joys. It would be a sufficient balance to former griefs. Let the grace of God in...
Read full commentary →