Psalm 90

The 90th psalm is a biblical psalm of Moses from the fourth book of the psalter . The subject of this psalm of lamentation and prayer is human impermanence. At the center is verse 12 with the request to God to lead us to good knowledge in the face of our certain death: "Teach us to count our days".

structure

The psalm can be divided into the following sections:

• Verses 1–11: Moses describes the frailty and weakness of man ( Ps 90 : 1–11  EU )
• Verses 12-17: The prayer of Moses ( Ps 90.12-17  EU )

author

The psalm is assigned to Moses , is one of the Moses compositions and linguistically refers to the supplication of Moses ( Ex 32  EU ), the song of Moses ( Dtn 32  EU ) and the blessing of Moses ( Dtn 33  SLT ).

content

The text begins with an invocation to God. Verses 1-2 remind us that the eternal God has always protected people from danger. The emphasis on divine eternity is then followed in 3–10 by an accusation of impermanence and an accusation of God . It is clearly stated that God lets people die. The brevity of human life contrasts with the existence of God. In verses 11–12, this complaint leads to a plea to God to be able to accept mortality so that “life can be accepted and lived as God's gift”. Now follows a “request for God's intervention (V 11-16) with a view of a more salutary future (V 17)”. This final part of the Psalm takes up linguistic motifs from the beginning (3: return [people], 11: return [God]; day; tomorrow). At the same time, in terms of content, it forms a bridge to the following Psalm 91 (promise of a good future) and linguistically to Psalm 92 (thanks).

Settings

• Heinrich Bellermann set Psalm 90 to music in a motet
• Martin Blumner : Psalm 90
• Holger Hantke : Psalm 90,10 (version for cantor and one-part schola or for cantor and four-part choir SATB and instruments), Edition Punctum Saliens , Bielefeld 2010
• Heinrich von Herzogenberg : Lord God, you are our refuge Psalm 90: 1–3.12, from: Liturgische Gesänge op. 92, IV2, from: Zum Totensonntag ( Motet )
• Nicola LeFanu : Verses From Psalm 90 for soprano and choir
• Ulrich Nehls : Psalm 90 - Lord you are our refuge
• Heinrich Gottfried Reichard : Lord you are our refuge for and for - Psalm 90
• Maria Scharwieß : The 90th Psalm (1989) for choir and orchestra. Premiere 1989 Berlin ( German Evangelical Church Congress )

Web links

Commons : Psalm 90  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Psalm 90 in the standard translation , the Luther Bible and other translations from bibleserver.com
• Psalm 90 in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) on bibelwissenschaft.de
• Sheet music in the public domain of settings for Psalm 90 in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Hossfeld / Zenger 2000, pp. 604 and 606
2. ↑ CH Spurgeon, The Treasury of David - An Interpretation of the Psalms, CLV (2004), 1196 ( online )
3. ↑ The Book of Psalms , in: Erich Zenger u. a., Introduction to the Old Testament , Stuttgart a. a. 1995 pp. 242-255 ISBN 3-17-012037-9
4. ↑ See Hossfeld / Zenger 2000, p. 609
5. ↑ See Hossfeld / Zenger 2000, p. 610 f.
6. ↑ See Hossfeld / Zenger 2000, p. 612
7. ↑ See Hossfeld / Zenger 2000, p. 604
8. ^ Online digitized version of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden, PDF, 6.6 MB