Psalms · 17 verses
Psalms 90
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A thousand years pass like a watch of the night, and then the prayer asks the Lord to return.
From everlasting to dustvv. 1–11
Moses begins with God as the dwelling place of every generation, already there before mountains, earth, and world had their beginnings. Against that vastness, mortal life is startlingly brief: a thousand years shrink to a day passing—or to a watch of the night—and people rise like grass in the morning only to fade by evening. The prayer does not tidy away the darker edge: anger, wrath, secret sins brought into the light, years ending with a sigh, and the curious human pride of seventy years, or eighty for the strong.
Return, O LORDvv. 12–17
Then the prayer turns. The God who sends mortals back to dust is asked to return, and the request is wonderfully direct: how long will it be, and might compassion arrive with the morning? The petitions gather warmth as they go—loving devotion, gladness proportionate to former affliction, God's work shown to servants and children—and finish by asking that human hands may have their work established. It is a small final request after the immense clockwork at the beginning, but it is repeated, which gives the hands rather more insistence.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Ps 90:1A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations.
Ps 90:2Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
Ps 90:3You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”
Ps 90:4For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.
Ps 90:5You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
Ps 90:6in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.
Ps 90:7For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
Ps 90:8You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
Ps 90:9For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.
Ps 90:10The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Ps 90:11Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.
Ps 90:12So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.
Ps 90:13Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.
Ps 90:14Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving devotion, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Ps 90:15Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.
Ps 90:16May Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your splendor to their children.
Ps 90:17May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 196 passages were voted onto 17 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 12Ephesians 5:16–17redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
- 12Psalms 39:4“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.
- 12John 9:4While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
- 12Deuteronomy 32:29If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
- 17Proverbs 16:3Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be achieved.
- 12Proverbs 4:7Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.
- 2Hebrews 13:8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
- 42 Peter 3:8Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
- 12Proverbs 3:13–18Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,
- 171 Corinthians 3:7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
- 1Deuteronomy 33:27The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’
- 2Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- 12Proverbs 23:12Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge.
- 12Luke 12:35–40Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.
- 12Ecclesiastes 9:10Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- 12Proverbs 7:1–4My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.
Onward