Psalms 90:1-17

Psalms 90:106

Gordon Churchyard

Introduction

Here are some of the things that you should know as you read the psalms in this book.

1. At the top of each psalm (say it "sarm") is a title in Dark Letters. This title is not in the *Hebrew psalm. It is not part of the Bible. It is there to give us help to remember the psalm and what it is about.

2. Under the title are some words either that Jesus said, or that somebody said about him. These words are from the *Gospels. They are part of the Bible.

3. The psalm itself is in a box. Everything that is in the box is part of the psalm. This includes the words at the top that tell us who wrote the psalm and why. In this book, we believe that these words are true and that they give us some help to understand the psalm. Other parts from the Bible are also in boxes, except the verses under the titles.

4. Words in brackets like this: () are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They give us help to understand what the psalm means.

5. The *Hebrew writers of the psalms used some words that we cannot translate into EasyEnglish words. These are in a word list at the end. Some words are very important, like *LORD and *righteous. You will find a whole page about these words after some of the psalms. *Righteous is after Psalms 5, the *Covenant is after Psalms 25 and the names of God (*LORD, *Lord and God) are also after Psalms 25. These psalms are in Book 1 of the Psalms of David.

6. After each psalm is the story of the psalm. Some of the psalms we know a lot about, as Psalms 18. Other psalms we do not know anything about, as Psalms 1. When this happens we say "perhaps" or "maybe".

7. After the stories comes "what the psalm means". Sometimes Bible students are not sure what the writer meant. When that happens the notes tell you.

8. At the end of each psalm, there is "something to do". This will give you help to learn more about the psalm.

The Psalms of David (Book 4).

God will always be alive!

Psalms 90

Psalms 90

(These are) words that Moses prayed.
(He was) a servant of God.

v1 *Lord, you have always been (as) a home for us.

v2 You were God before the mountains were born.
(You were God) before you were as a mother to the earth and the world.
You always were and you always will (be God).

v3 You make people go back to (being) powder in the ground (when they die).
You say, "Go back (to the ground), sons of Adam".

v4 For you see a thousand years as just a day (that) passes.
(The years are as) a few hours in the night when they are over.

v5 You pour the sleep (of death) on them (the sons of Adam).
They become as new grass in the morning.

v6 In the morning, it grows well;
but by the evening, it becomes dry and it dies.

v7 You destroy us because you are angry.
Because you are so angry, you make us very much afraid.

v8 You see in front of you the wrong (things) that we do.
Your light (even) shows the secret bad (things) that we do!

v9 All our days hurry past because you are angry with us.
We finish our years in (just the time it takes for) a cry.

v10 The number of our days is 70 years.
Or maybe 80 years if we are strong.
Yet, even in the best years of our lives,
we have trouble and we are not really happy.
And they soon go and we hurry away (towards death).

v11 (*LORD), who knows how strong you are when you are very angry?
(The people that) you frighten when you become so angry (will know).

v12 Teach (us) to count well our days.
Then we will get a heart that thinks (as God thinks).

v13 *LORD, how long (will it be until) you change your mind?
Be kind to your servants!

v14 Give us your kind love (every) morning.
Then we will sing and be happy for as long as we live.

v15 Make us happy for as long as you have hurt us.
(Make us happy) for as many years as we have had trouble.

v16 Let (us) your servants see the work that you do.
And show how great you are to (our) children.

v17 Let the *Lord our God show how happy he is with us.
Let him make the work that our hands do continue.
Let the work that our hands do continue.

The Story of Psalms 90

These are "words that Moses prayed". That does not mean that Moses wrote the psalm. Some Bible students think that he did. Other students think that later writers used words and ideas from "the Books of Moses". These are the first 5 books of the Bible. This psalm makes Bible students think of Genesis 3 and Deuteronomy 32. The psalm uses "words that Moses" said, from these books.

The psalm is in 4 parts. The first 3 parts are in verses 1-12. They could be about anybody in the world. They are true for all of us. But the last part, verses 13-17, is about God's people, the *Jews. Something bad had happened to them. They are praying that God will be good to them. We do not know what this bad thing was. Some Bible students think that it was when the Babylonians beat them and took them to Babylon. We call this "the exile". But it could be anything after the time of Moses!

What Psalms 90 means

In this psalm, there are 3 words for God: *Lord, *LORD and God. They are 3 different words in the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew is the language that the *Jews spoke when they wrote the psalms. Jews are people who were born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children. In verses 1 and 17,there is the word Lord. This means "master", someone with authority. It translates the Hebrew word "Adonai". In verse 13,there is LORD, with 4 capital letters. This translates "Yahweh" or "Jehovah". It means "I am". This tells us that God is always alive. In verses 2 and 17, there is the word God. This translates "Elohim". It is a plural word; it means "the powerful rulers that have authority".

Study the psalm in 4 parts:

• Verses 1 - 2 start the psalm and tell us about God. They tell us that God has always been alive and always will be alive.

• Verses 3 - 6 tell us that people on earth will not always be alive. Life is short!

• Verses 7 - 11 tell us this: The people that wrote the psalm have not obeyed God’s rules.

• Verses 12 - 17 tell us that these people are praying to God for him to be kind to them.

In verse 1, "a home for us" means a place that we can always go to. In John 14:2 it says, "I (Jesus) am going to make a place for you". Jesus meant the place we go to when we die. But we can always go to God while we are still alive on the earth wherever we are. God will be with us if we ask him.

Verse 2 sees God as a mother. He has children... the earth and the world. The world is that part of the earth where people live. This tells us in special words (poetry) that God made (created) the world.

In verse 3, there are two things that make us think about Genesis 2:3:

• "powder in the ground". Another word for this is "dust". Genesis tells us that God made (created) men and women from dust.

• "Adam" was the first man that God made. We are all "sons of Adam". We could translate this "all men and women".

In verse 4, "a thousand years" here may again make us think of the beginning of Genesis. Men and women then lived for a very long time. Methuselah was nearly a thousand years old when he died! The verse means this: What is a very long time to us is a short time to God.

Verse 5 The Bible talks about death as "sleep". One day, after we die, we will all awake... and see God!

Verse 6 Grass in Israel did not grow for long. It soon died. The psalm tells us that people are the same. God will always be alive, but men and women will soon die.

Verse 7 The Bible tells us that "God is a light, and nothing in him is dark", (1 John 1:5). This verse tells us that this light lets God sees the wrong things that we do, even the secret wrong things!

Verse 9 Because God is angry with us, our lives seem to go very fast. "Just a cry" means "just the time it takes to cry".

Verse 11 Here is a question and an answer. The verse means that everybody will know when God becomes angry.

Verse 12 An important Christian word is repent. Often people tell us that it means this: We are sorry for the wrong things that we have done. This is true. But it means more than this. It means that we see things as God sees them. This makes us want to obey his rules and not do wrong things again. We think as God thinks. The verse says we "will get a heart that thinks as God thinks". This is because the *Jews believed that you thought in your heart! They also thought that you loved with your stomach! We call this a "*Jewish thought" or a "*Jewish idiom".

Verse 13 Some English translations say, "*LORD, how long will it be until you repent?" This uses the word "repent" in its proper way as "think again". It does not mean that God is sorry for what he has done!

Verse 14 "Kind love" is a special word in Hebrew. It is "hesed". It means the love that God goes on giving us, even when we do not obey him. That is why the psalm says "every morning". God never stops loving us!

Verse 15 There are some words in this verse that only come in Deuteronomy 32:7 and here in the Hebrew Bible. Moses wrote these words! That is why some people think that Moses wrote Psalms 90.

Verse 16 "The work that you do" means "what God does to make his people safe". He stops their enemies hurting the *Jews. Then the children will see it also.

Verse 17 This is how the *Lord will show that he is happy. Nobody will destroy the things that his people do. They will always be there!

Something to do

1. Think as God thinks... or repent. When something happens that you do not understand, ask God, "What do you think about this?"

2. Learn to say verse 14 by heart. This means that you can say it without looking at the words.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Gospel ~ one of the four books at the beginning of the New Testament [see New Testament].
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ what God and his people agreed.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ as.
righteous ~ very good (only God is really righteous). God says that the people that love and obey him are righteous. Sometimes we say that they are "the righteous", meaning "righteous people". Look after Psalm 5 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the word "righteous".
righteous ~ very good (only God is really righteous). God says that the people that love and obey him are righteous. Sometimes we say that they are "the righteous", meaning "righteous people". Look after Psalm 5 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the word "righteous".
covenant ~ what God and his people agreed.
Lord ~ a name for God; it means he has authority, or "master"; Adonai in Hebrew. Look also at LORD below.
LORD ~ a special name for God that his people use. It is the covenant name of God. In Hebrew it is Yahweh or Jehovah. Look after Psalm 25 in Book 1 of the Psalms of David for more about the names of God.
Adonai ~ Lord or master (or better, my Lord or my master) in Hebrew.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke when they wrote the Psalms of David.
covenant ~ what God and his people agreed.
Yahweh ~ the covenant name for God. Most Bibles translate it LORD with 4 capital letters. It means something like "I am" or "always alive".
Jehovah ~ how some languages say Yahweh, one of the names of God in Hebrew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
like ~ as.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything to do with a Jew.
Jew ~ someone who was born from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.