Psalms 90:9 Explained in Context

Read It With

• Psalms 90:7–12
• Psalms 90:1–17

Read Psalms 90:9 with 90:7–12 and 90:1–17. Read alone, “For all our days are passed away in thy wrath” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 90:7–12, the communal voice carries the movement “Wrath, brevity, and the prayer for wisdom” as part of “Moses' prayer on mortality and lasting work.” Its communal-wisdom-lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Psalms 90:7–12 intensifies “Eternal refuge and mortal return to dust” within Psalm 90 by carrying “Wrath, brevity, and the prayer for wisdom.” The turn from “In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth” to “For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled” explains why this movement occurs here. Within that relationship, Psalm 90:9 supplies a reason or consequence through “For all our days are passed away in thy wrath” and must be read with the claim it supports.