The Meaning of Psalms 90:15 Explained

Psalms 90:15

KJV: Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

YLT: Cause us to rejoice according to the days Wherein Thou hast afflicted us, The years we have seen evil.

Darby: Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, according to the years wherein we have seen evil.

ASV: Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, And the years wherein we have seen evil.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Make us glad  according to the days  [wherein] thou hast afflicted  us, [and] the years  [wherein] we have seen  evil. 

What does Psalms 90:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 90:1-17 - The Message Of The Passing Years
The majestic music of this great psalm separates it from all the rest. It is like the deep bass stop of a mighty organ. Moses' authorship is stamped upon it. It is worthy of the man who had seen God face to face.
Psalms 90:1-6. The transitoriness of human life is contrasted with the stability of God. He is the asylum and home of all the generations of mankind, Deuteronomy 33:27. The earth and its mountains the universe and its worlds, were born of Him; but He Himself had no origin, no beginning. Time is but a sigh, a breath, the swift rush of the mountain-torrent, a tale told by the camp-fire at night, the grass of a morning's growth.
Psalms 90:7-12. A wail is borne in these verses from the forty years of wanderings. The ceaseless succession of graves was the bitter harvest of Israel's rebellions. Oh, that we might apply our hearts to wisdom that we may not fail of God's rest!
Psalms 90:13-17. In the closing words Moses utters a sublime prayer which includes us all. Let us seek to do some good work before we go, and may our children be a nobler generation than ourselves! But all beauty of character and permanence of work must emanate from God. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 90

1  Moses, setting forth God's providence
3  Complains of human fragility
7  Divine chastisement
10  and brevity of life
12  He prays for the knowledge and sensible experience of God's good providence

What do the individual words in Psalms 90:15 mean?

Make us glad according to the days [in which] You have afflicted us the years [in which] we have seen evil
שַׂ֭מְּחֵנוּ כִּימ֣וֹת עִנִּיתָ֑נוּ שְׁ֝נ֗וֹת רָאִ֥ינוּ רָעָֽה

שַׂ֭מְּחֵנוּ  Make  us  glad 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperative, masculine singular, first person common plural
Root: שָׂמַח  
Sense: to rejoice, be glad.
כִּימ֣וֹת  according  to  the  days 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
עִנִּיתָ֑נוּ  [in  which]  You  have  afflicted  us 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, second person masculine singular, first person common plural
Root: עָנָה 
Sense: (Qal) to be occupied, be busied with.
שְׁ֝נ֗וֹת  the  years 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct
Root: שָׁנָה  
Sense: year.
רָאִ֥ינוּ  [in  which]  we  have  seen 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common plural
Root: רָאָה 
Sense: to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider.
רָעָֽה  evil 
Parse: Adjective, feminine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.