Limitless Word
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
Psalms 90:9 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
  • BSB For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.
  • NKJV For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.
  • NASB For all our days have dwindled away in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh.
  • NLT We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Our days pass under God's displeasure, and life ends like a fleeting sigh.

Overview

Life is spent "in your wrath" and concludes as briefly as a breath or sigh. The verse weds human mortality to the weight of God's judgment on sin. Against this backdrop, the everlasting life and joy offered in Christ shine all the brighter (John 3:36).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 3

  • Ps 78:33Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
  • Ps 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
  • Ps 90:4For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 90:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 90:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.