What does Psalm 90:3 mean?

Moses comments on human frailty. He asserts that God ends a human's life and returns him to dust. This echoes the words Moses also penned in Genesis 2:7, saying "then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." The word for "dust" in this verse comes from a Hebrew word meaning to crush and refers to something pulverized into a grit or powder.

In Genesis 3:19, after Adam sinned, God announced: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Death is both a consequence of sin and a sentence God imposed on humanity because of sin. Romans 6:23 points out that "the wages of sin is death," and Hebrews 9:27 teaches that "it is appointed for man to die once." Scientists have made progress in delaying death in many cases, but they cannot eliminate death. It is inevitable.