King David found this prayer in its current form – he received a tradition that attributed it to Moses. The Midrash attributes the following eleven psalms, from Psalm 90, to Moses (Rashi). – and recorded it in the Tehillim. It speaks of the brevity of human life and inspires man to repent and avoid pride in this world. Repenting is one of the most difficult things to do in Torah life. Yet there are millions of Jews who throughout history have repented and returned to the Torah. A person who repents is called Baal Teshuvah.
- Text Psalm 90
- Hebrew text of Psalm 90 – תהילים צ
- Listen to Psalm 90
- Commentary on Psalm 90 by Rabbi Yitzchok Rubin
- Commentary by Rashi on Psalm 90
- Further explanation of the above Jewish comments
- Psalm 1 to 92
Text Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses, the man of G-d. O Lord, You have been our dwelling place from generation to generation. Before the mountains were born, and You brought forth the earth and the inhabited world, and from everlasting to everlasting You are G-d. You bring man to the breaking point and You say, “Return, O sons of men.” A thousand years in Your sight are as yesterday that passed away, and a watch in the night.
….Satiate us in the morning with Your loving-kindness, and let us sing praises and be glad all our days. Let us rejoice according to the days that You have afflicted us, the years that we have seen evil. May Your works appear to Your servants and Your beauty to their sons. And may the glory of the Lord our G‑d be upon us, and the work of our hands shall be established before us, and the work of our hands shall be established before us.
Hebrew text of Psalm 90 – תהילים צ
{a} A prayer to Moses, the man of God, the Lord of our dwelling, you have been ours from generation to generation:
{b} Before the mountains were born, and you stretched out on the earth and the wasteland, and from everlasting to everlasting you are God:
{c) } A man sat down until Dacca and said, Return, sons of Adam: {4} For a thousand years are in your eyes Today I will pass away because it will pass away and I will watch over it in the night. We
are at your face and at your wrath we are afraid:{8} 9} For all our right hand has turned because of you, we have all our years as He said:
{1} The days of our years in them are seventy years, and in the case of valor eighty years, and most of them are toil and sorrow. For Gaz has sensed and moved. And a wise heart prophesied :
{13} Return, Jehovah, until I die, and comfort your servants: {Yid} We are satisfied in the morning, and your mercy is refreshed and rejoices all our days: {To} We rejoice And as many years as we have answered, we have seen evil: {16} Let thy servants fear thy work and thy instruction upon their children:
{17 } And Noam, the Lord our God, was upon us, and the work of our hands was upon us, and the work of our hands was upon us:
Listen to Psalm 90
Listen to Psalm 90 in Hebrew.
Commentary on Psalm 90 by Rabbi Yitzchok Rubin
Scientifically it has been shown that there is a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease if the brain is continually taught new things. This proves, according to Rabbi Rubin, what Torah sages have been saying for centuries, namely that Torah study is important for man’s spiritual well-being. A Jew must continue to study the Torah all his life. G‑d provokes Jews to condemn and repent of themselves for unworthy actions.
Repenting is one of the most difficult things to do, according to the Torah. Change takes courage. As a result, Jews grow spiritually. Without growing pains there is no growth.
Psalm 90 is the first chapter of the fourth book of Psalms. This and the ten subsequent chapters were composed by Moses. According to Rashi, the eleven chapters correspond to the eleven blessings he gave to the eleven tribes, as can be read in Deuteronomy. Psalm 90 concerns the teshuvah (repentance) of the tribe of Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob.
Reuben repented of selling his brother Joseph. His complete repentance is the first to be introduced into the world. He repented of a sin for which he initially thought he had done a morally good deed. This is the most difficult form of repentance and takes a lot of strength and practice.
Moses begins this Psalm with the most important reality of man’s existence, namely that G-d is our dwelling place in every generation, in all times and in all places. Without a bond with G-d, people are capable of the most terrible things. That is why G-d constantly calls man to return to Him or to repent.
Because G-d is above time, He can warn man before he fails. By establishing a personal relationship with G-d, man can avoid spiritual ruin and stay on the right path. Moses says that people should use their time wisely.
Commentary by Rashi on Psalm 90
Per verse the commentary of Rashi, the Jewish Bible commentator who lived from 1040-1105. Rashi is considered the teacher of teachers. All traditional Jews regard Rashi as an authority on the Jewish Bible and Talmud. Hence it is important to record his commentary on the Psalms. Rashi uses new Hebrew supplemented with Old French words. His language is sometimes somewhat oracularly short. For further explanation it is wise to consult an orthodox Jewish rabbi.
Verse 1
A prayer of Moses, the man of G-d. O Lord, You have been our dwelling place from generation to generation.
A Prayer from Moses : Moses recited all eleven psalms from here to (ch. 101) “From David, a song.” According to them he [Moses] blessed eleven tribes with eleven blessings in (Deuteronomy 33): “And this is the blessing.”
You have been our dwelling place : Hebrew מעון, a dwelling place and a place of refuge to enter. [That’s what] You have been for us.
from generation to generation : From ancient times, for You preceded all things.
Verse 2
Before the mountains were born, and You brought forth the earth and the inhabited world, and from everlasting to everlasting You are G-d.
Before the mountains were born : [i.e. before they] were created, and before You brought forth the earth and the inhabited world, and from the first world to the last world, You are G-d.
Verse 3
You bring man to the breaking point and You say, “Return, O sons of men.”
You bring man to the crushing point : You cause man pain until You bring him to a weakened state, almost dead, and You tell him with these torments: ,Return, you sons of men, from your evil ways.,
Verse 4
A thousand years are in Your sight as yesterday that passed away, and a watch in the night.
A thousand years are in Your sight : A thousand years of people are as one day of the Holy One, blessed be He, and part of the night with it; for one day of the Holy One, blessed be He, and a little of the night of the Holy One, blessed be He, are a thousand years, for the text does not say that the day of the Holy One, blessed be He, is as a thousand years, but that if a little of the night passes with it, His day is complete, and it is a thousand years. Therefore Adam died within a thousand [years] for if he had lived a thousand [years], it would have been more than the day of the Holy One, blessed be He. Perhaps the amount of that watch is equal to the time from Adam’s death to a thousand years, but we do not know how much that watch was except by conjecture. I found this:
A thousand years are in Your sight, etc. : And when repentance came into Your mind from the beginning, You judged well and created it. Those years were suitable for it, because the days of the people were many, so that a thousand years were in Your sight as one passing day, which passed away and went away, with a little of the night added to it, for You said to Adam (Genesis 2: 17): ,for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,, and he lived nine hundred and thirty years. We discover that a thousand years is equal to a whole day and a little of the night.
like yesterday that passed : It is already over.
Verse 5
You carry them away like a flood; they are like sleep; In the morning, like grass it passes.
You carry them away like a flood; they are like a sleep : Now you have taken those years and they have become a few days, which are only like a slumbering sleep, for the years of the generations are seventy years, as is explained at the end of the chapter: The days of our years because theirs are seventy years, and they are regarded as one sleep. As the matter is stated (below 126:1), “When the Lord brings back those who return to Zion, we will be as dreamers.” This was said about the Babylonian captivity, which lasted seventy years.
You carry them away like a flood : Hebrew זרמתם, an expression of flooding, as (Habakkuk 3:10): “A stream (זרם) of water.”
In the morning, like grass it passes : If one is born at night, he dies in the morning at the end of his sleep. And if,
Verse 6
In the morning it blossoms and passes away; In the evening it is cut off and withers away.
In the morning it blooms : it immediately dies, and when evening comes it is cut off and withers away. Why?
Verse 7
For we perish in Your wrath, and in Your wrath we are crushed.
For we perish from Your wrath, and from Your wrath we are, etc.: That is to say, and because of all this…
Verse 8
You have set before You our iniquities, [the sins of] our youth before the light of Your countenance .
Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee : and our youth, the sins of our youth, Thou hast set before the light of Thy countenance.
our youth : Hebrew עלמנו, our youth, as (I Samuel 17:56): ,whose son is this youth (העלם).,
for the light of Your countenance : opposite You and to look at them.
Verse 9
For all our days are passed away in Your wrath; we have consumed our years like a murmur.
have passed by in Your wrath : have turned, are taken away, and gone away in Your wrath.
like a murmur : Like speech, which hastens to disappear.
Verse 10
The days of our years are therefore seventy years, and if they increase, eighty years; but their pride is toil and pain, for it passes quickly and we fly away.
The days of our years are therefore seventy years : The days of these years of ours, because of these iniquities of ours, and because of these sins of our youth, are seventy years.
and if they increase : And if his days be much longer, they are eighty years.
but their pride is toil and pain : But all the greatness and dominion that a person enjoys today are only toil and pain. Why? Because it will pass quickly and we will fly away. During the rapid passing we fly away and die.
it passes away : Hebrew גז, an expression of passing away, as (Nahum 1:12): ,they have crossed over (נגוזו),; (Numbers 11:31), “and rode (ויגז) quails out of the sea.”
Verse 11
Who knows the power of Your wrath, and according to Your fear is Your wrath?
Who knows the power of Your wrath : Who can acquire in these few days intelligence to know the power of Your wrath and to fear You, and as for You Your fear is Your wrath. Just as You are feared, so Your wrath is harsh and You are the recompense of sinners.
Verse 12
Therefore learn the number of our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
So learn the number of our days : And as in the beginning, make known in the world the number of our long days, and as we live long, we shall be able to acquire intelligence, and we shall have in it a heart of acquire wisdom. The word נביא is an expression of bringing [rather than of a prophet. Cf. BB 12a, Targum ad. locomotive, Redak below]. (Some say: According to the number of our days כן, according to the numerical value of כן, seventy years. He says: According to the number of our years, which are few, so You will chasten us, as [Judges 8:16 ]: ,and with them he (ויודע) punished the men of Succoth., This is not in all editions.)
Verse 13
Return, O Lord, how long? And repent for Your servants.
Return, O Lord : from Your fierce wrath.
And repent : Think carefully about Your servants.
Verse 14
Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving-kindness, and let us sing praises and be glad all our days.
Satisfy us in the morning : On the day of redemption and salvation, that is the morning of the night of trouble, sighing and darkness.
and let us sing praises and be glad in all our days : that is, in all the difficulties that passed us by in these days of ours.
Verse 15
Let us rejoice according to the days that You have afflicted us, the years that we have seen evil.
Let us rejoice according to the days that You tormented us : Let us rejoice in the days of our Messiah according to the number of days You inflicted upon us in the exiles and according to the number of years that we experienced evil.
Verse 17
And may the glory of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands before us, and the work of our hands establish it.
And may the glory of the Lord our God be upon us : His presence and His comfort.
and confirm the work of our hands for us : Hebrew .וננה. This is an expression of supplication. כוֹננה is like שמרה, notice, שפטה, to judge.
confirming : Determine it. The two times ,and establish the work of our hands, [mentioned are for the following purposes]: One is for the work of the Tabernacle, when he blessed Israel and prayed that the Shechinah would be upon the work of their hands in the Tabernacle, and first, there is a blessing in the work of their hands.
Further explanation of the above Jewish comments
A Baal Teshuvah (literally ‘master of return’) is a person who converts to G-d, after deliberate or unwitting violation of the commandments of the Torah; a Jew from a secular or not fully religious background who has decided to fully observe the Torah.
Psalm 90 concerns the teshuvah (repentance) of the tribe of Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob. He was the first Baal Teshuvah. Later, many millions more Jews will follow who also return to the Torah.
Well-known Biblical figures who were Baal Teshuvah include Cain (after the murder of Abel); Judah, King David (the Bathsheva affair); the entire Jewish people after the sin with the Golden Calf.
Well-known rabbis from the past who were Baal Teshuvah include Rabbi Akiva who started studying Torah at the age of forty. And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, who was initially the leader of a band of robbers, but later began to study the Torah.
In modern times Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks are known. The first translated the entire Talmud into modern Hebrew and English. The second was Chief Rabbi of England.
With the coming of the Messiah, all Jews will return to Judaism, the Torah assures.
Psalm 1 to 92
Would you like to read more Psalms with a Jewish interpretation? Go to: Psalms 1 through 92.