A Prayer of Moses: Number Our Days and Seek God’s Mercy

Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses, sets God’s eternal nature against the short, fragile span of human life. It reminds us that the Lord is our true dwelling place through all generations, while our days on earth pass quickly like grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening. The psalm speaks plainly about sin before a holy God and the sobering reality of His righteous displeasure, which exposes the folly of living as if time were endless. In that light, it teaches us to “number our days” so that we may gain a heart of wisdom—repentant, teachable, and God-fearing. It closes with a plea for God’s mercy, gladness, and favor, asking Him to establish the work of our hands so our labor is not empty but anchored in Him.

Psalms 90:1 – 90:17

  1 A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
  2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou [art] God.
  3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
  4 For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night.
  5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are [as] a sleep: in the morning [they are] like grass [which] groweth up.
  6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
  7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
  8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret [sins] in the light of thy countenance.
  9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale [that is told].
  10 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.
  11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, [so is] thy wrath.
  12 So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto wisdom.
  13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
  14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
  15 Make us glad according to the days [wherein] thou hast afflicted us, [and] the years [wherein] we have seen evil.
  16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
  17 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.