16 Let your work appear to your servants; Your glory to their children.
> We have heard with our ears, God; Our fathers have told us, What work you did in their days, In the days of old.
Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.
Now if you shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness. Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation. Pardon, Please, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. Yahweh said, I have pardoned according to your word: but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh; because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it: but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it.
surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, that you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and to them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you were passed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were passed over; that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Yahweh, that it is mighty; that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.
Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you; all are happen to you, not one thing has failed of it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 90
Commentary on Psalms 90 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 90
Ps 90:1-17. Contrasting man's frailty with God's eternity, the writer mourns over it as the punishment of sin, and prays for a return of the divine favor. A Prayer [mainly such] of Moses the man of God—(De 33:1; Jos 14:6); as such he wrote this (see on Ps 18:1, title, and Ps 36:1, title).
1. dwelling-place—home (compare Eze 11:16), as a refuge (De 33:27).
2. brought forth [and] formed—both express the idea of production by birth.
3. to destruction—literally, "even to dust" (Ge 3:19), which is partly quoted in the last clause.
4. Even were our days now a thousand years, as Adam's, our life would be but a moment in God's sight (2Pe 3:8).
a watch—or, third part of a night (compare Ex 14:24).
5, 6. Life is like grass, which, though changing under the influence of the night's dew, and flourishing in the morning, is soon cut down and withereth (Ps 103:15; 1Pe 1:24).
7, 8. For—A reason, this is the infliction of God's wrath.
troubled—literally, "confounded by terror" (Ps 2:5). Death is by sin (Ro 5:12). Though "secret," the light of God's countenance, as a candle, will bring sin to view (Pr 20:27; 1Co 4:5).
9. are passed—literally, "turn," as to depart (Jer 6:4).
spend—literally, "consume."
as a tale—literally, "a thought," or, "a sigh" (Eze 2:10).
10. Moses' life was an exception (De 34:7).
it is … cut off—or, "driven," as is said of the quails in using the same word (Nu 11:31). In view of this certain and speedy end, life is full of sorrow.
11. The whole verse may be read as a question implying the negative, "No one knows what Thy anger can do, and what Thy wrath is, estimated by a true piety."
12. This he prays we may know or understand, so as properly to number or appreciate the shortness of our days, that we may be wise.
13. (Compare Ps 13:2).
let it repent—a strong figure, as in Ex 32:12, imploring a change in His dealings.
14. early—promptly.
15. As have been our sorrows, so let our joys be great and long.
16. thy work—or, providential acts.
thy glory—(Ps 8:5; 45:3), the honor accruing from Thy work of mercy to us.
17. let the beauty—or sum of His gracious acts, in their harmony, be illustrated in us, and favor our enterprise.