Psalm 90:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

NIV: May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands.

NASB: May the kindness of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

CSB: Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us the work of our hands -- establish the work of our hands!

NLT: And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!

KJV: 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.

NKJV: And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Moses implores the Lord to place His favor upon him and the Israelites. He also asks the Lord to prosper all that they did. Moses often used the praise, "the work of our hands." In Deuteronomy, for example, when he instructed Israel about God's laws, he explained, "that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do" (Deuteronomy 14:29; 16:15; 24:19; 28:12; 30:9).

Anything we do without the Lord's help and blessing amounts to nothing. Psalm 127:1 assures us, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." When Nehemiah contemplated rebuilding Jerusalem's walls, he prayed for success (Nehemiah 1:4, 11), and when neighboring tribes conspired to fight against Nehemiah and the builders of the walls, Nehemiah and the workers prayed to God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night (Nehemiah 4:7–9).

Before the apostles bore witness to Jesus in Jerusalem they grouped together and prayed (Acts 1:12–14). And before commissioning Paul and Barnabas to serve as missionaries, the believers at Antioch fasted and prayed (Acts 13:2–3). Today, too, believers ought to pray for the Lord's blessing on any work He assigns. We can do more than pray, but we cannot do anything eternally significant until we pray.

Psalm 90:11–17 calls on the Lord to teach His people to number their days and gain wisdom. Moses, the author, prays for mercy and joy. Also, he asks the Lord to prosper His servants' work. Other Scriptures emphasize God's compassion, the joy He gives, and the blessing He pours out on those who serve Him (Psalm 100:5; Proverbs 22:4). The books of Ezra and Nehemiah demonstrate the truth that God grants these gifts to those who honor Him, even if those gifts aren't always in the form of an easy, prosperous life.

Psalm 90, likely the oldest psalm, opens with Moses addressing God as eternal and Israel's dwelling place, but quickly shifts to an acknowledgement of man's brief life on earth. Our iniquity is the reason God directs His wrath at us. In most cases, a person can expect to live somewhere around 70 or 80 years, barring disease or misfortune. Short or long, life is full of toil and trouble. In view of life's brevity, Moses asks the Lord to fill His people with wisdom. He also asks the Lord to reveal His work, demonstrate His power, grant His favor, and make Israel's labor successful.

Psalm 90, written by Moses, is most likely the oldest psalm, presuming it was written during Israel's wandering in the desert. This begins the fourth division of Psalms (90—106) and likely was written after Israel refused to heed the Lord's command to enter and occupy Canaan (Numbers 13—14). The background for Psalm 90 is Israel's wanderings for forty years in the desert and the perishing of a generation as a result of its disobedience. The psalm focuses on God's eternal nature and man's finite nature. It stresses God's anger against sin and appeals to His compassion to restore and bless His people.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.