Psalms 90:3
in Psalms 90You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou turnest man to destruction, And sayest, Return, ye children of men.
KJV
Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 90
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thou turnest man to destruction - In contradistinction from his own unchangeableness and eternity. Man passes away; God continues ever the same. The word rendered “destruction” - דכא dakkâ' - means properly anything beaten or broken small or very fine, and hence, “dust.” The idea here is, that God causes man to return to dust; that is, the elements which compose the body return to their original condition, or seem to mingle with the earth. Gen 3:19: “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The word “man” here, of course, refers to man in general - all people.
This site's exposition
You return man to dust
on Psalms 90:3-6
Verse 3 sends man back to dust, and Genesis 3:19 says the same, to dust you shall return. A thousand years measure out as one day in verse 4, and 2 Peter 3:8 says it both ways round. The grass is up at dawn and withered by evening.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Do not turn man away into humiliation. And you said: Turn back, sons of men. O Lord, that we might dare to ask this, that we might say, Do not turn man away into humiliation, you have given us confidence by saying: "Return to me, sons, as you turn back, and I will heal your afflictions." And you said: Turn back, sons of men. For a thousand years before your eyes are like a single day that has passed by: do not turn man away into humiliation. And a watch in the night. What did he mean to say by this, And a watch in the night? We ought also to know this according to the literal history: the night is divided into four watches. Indeed in the Gospel too it is said: "But in the fourth watch." One watch, then, is three hours: so the night is divided into four watches. Indeed soldiers have these four stations, when they keep guard and relieve one another. See, then, what he says. All of our eternity: that Adam our forefather, who lived nine hundred and thirty years; even that Methuselah, who lived nine hundred and sixty-five years; suppose he had lived a thousand: in comparison with your eternity, what was great is short. For what can be great that has an end? Our thousand years, before we had committed offense, was one day in your sight. Why do I say, one day? one watch of the night. Do not turn man away into humiliation. See what he says: You deigned for our salvation to come down, you poured out your blood for us: do not allow us to perish, and to die in humiliation. You yourself said: "When I have been lifted up, I will draw all to myself." You have been lifted up, and you have lifted us up: do not abandon us, so that we be dragged down.
But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in consequence of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. "Turn not Thou man to lowness" [Psalm 90:3]: that is, let not man, turned aside from Your eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is what God has Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," [Matthew 6:13] He adds, "Again You say, Come again, you children of men." As if he said, I ask of You what You have commanded me to ask: giving glory to His grace, that "he that glories, in the Lord he may glory:" [1 Corinthians 1:31] without whose help we cannot by an exertion of our own will overcome the temptations of this life. "Turn not Thou man to lowness: again you say, Turn again, you children of men." But grant what You have enjoined, by hearing the prayer of him who can at least pray, and aiding the faith of the willing soul.
Turn not man away into lowliness. Moses prays on behalf of man, and what does he say? Do not suffer to perish him whom you fashioned in your image. Turn not man away into lowliness. Consider not the vileness of the body, but the dignity of the soul. Let it suffice us that we once heard, "You are earth, and into earth you shall go," and that because of the consciousness of sin we are brought low. Turn not man away into lowliness.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Turnedst - But as for man, his case is far otherwise, though he was made by thee happy. and immortal, yet for his sin thou didst make him mortal and miserable.
Thou turnest man to destruction,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
When God is, by sickness or other afflictions, turning men to destruction, he does thereby call men to return unto him, that is, to repent of their sins and live a new life. This God speaketh once, yea, twice. "Return unto me, from whom you have revolted," Jer. iv.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Thou turnest man to destruction, or "to dust." Man's body is resolved into its elements, and is as though it had been crushed and ground to powder. And sayest, Return, ye children of men, i.e., return even to the dust out of which ye were taken. The frailty of man is thus forcibly set forth; God creates him out of the dust, and back to dust he goes at the word of his Creator. God resolves and man dissolves. A word created and a word destroys.
Thou turnest man to destruction, or "to dust." Man's body is resolved into its elements, and is as though it had been crushed and ground to powder. And sayest, Return, ye children of men, i.e., return even to the dust out of which ye were taken. The frailty of man is thus forcibly set forth; God creates him out of the dust, and back to dust he goes at the word of his Creator. God resolves and man dissolves. A word created and a word destroys. Observe how the action of God is recognised; man is not said to die because of the decree of faith, or the action of inevitable law, but the Lord is made the agent of all, his hand turns and his voice speaks; without these we should not die, no power on earth or hell could kill us.
Thou turnest man to destruction - Literally, Thou shalt turn dying man, אנוש enosh, to the small dust, דכא dacca but thou wilt say, Return, ye children of Adam. This appears to be a clear and strong promise of the resurrection of the human body, after it has long slept, mingled with the dust of the earth.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תָּשֵׁ֣ב | tashev | you return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֱ֭נוֹשׁ | ʾenoosh | humankind | H582 → | 566 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | to | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| דַּכָּ֑א | daka' | crushed matter | H1793 → | |
| וַ֝תֹּ֗אמֶר | vatomer | and you said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שׁ֣וּבוּ | shuvu | return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| בְנֵי־ | venei- | O children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָדָֽם׃ | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
תָּשֵׁ֣בyou return
tashevH7725 →1056 times
אֱ֭נוֹשׁhumankind
ʾenooshH582 →566 times
עַד־to
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
דַּכָּ֑אcrushed matter
daka'H1793 →
וַ֝תֹּ֗אמֶרand you said
vatomerH559 →5305 times
שׁ֣וּבוּreturn
shuvuH7725 →1056 times
בְנֵי־O children of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
אָדָֽם׃humankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 3:19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 104:29
When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
Through
Ecclesiastes 12:7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
it leads to
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 146:4
When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 34:14–15
If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ecclesiastes 3:20–21
All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.
- Genesis 3:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 90; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jerome, Homily 19, on Psalm 89; Jerome, Homily 67, on Psalm 89 (Alternate Series); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.