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Psalm 90 · a question people ask

The title says "A Prayer by Moses, the man of God" (90:1). Is this Moses of Exodus, and when did he pray it?

In the text

The title says only "A Prayer by Moses, the man of God." (90:1). The Hebrew Bible calls Moses "the man of God" elsewhere in the same words: "Moses the man of God" (Deuteronomy 33:1, Joshua 14:6, 1 Chronicles 23:14, 2 Chronicles 30:16, Ezra 3:2). The title doesn't say when or where the prayer was prayed, and nothing in the psalm names a time or a place. The introduction's rule holds here: these notes say what the title says and no more.

The verses

“A Prayer by Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.”
Psalm 90:1 · World English Bible
“This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.”
Deuteronomy 33:1 · World English Bible
“Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the thing that the LORD spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea.”
Joshua 14:6 · World English Bible
“But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.”
1 Chronicles 23:14 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 90

Psalm 90: Teach us to count our days

Psalm 90 is the only psalm whose title names Moses, and it opens the fourth part of the book: God before the mountains, people like grass that lasts a day. The God who tells people "Return" (90:3) is asked, with the same Hebrew verb, "Relent, LORD!" (90:13), and the prayer ends asking, twice, "establish the work of our hands" (90:17).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions