Psalms 90:3

The thought here is not merely that man's life is infinitely brief in contrast to the eternity of God, but that it is absolutely at His disposal. The Psalmist plainly refers to Genesis 3:19, though he chooses different words to emphasise his point: Thou makest mortal man return to atoms. Enôshdenotes man in his frailty (Psalms 103:15): dakkâ, lit. pulverisation, implies the dissolution of the body into its constituent elements.

and sayest, Return&c. Two interpretations deserve consideration: (1) -Return to the dust whence ye were taken," cp. Psalms 146:4; Job 10:9; Job 34:15. (2) -Return into being," a call to new generations to appear on the stage of history (Isaiah 41:4). Cp. P.B.V. "Again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men." In favour of (2) it is urged that and sayestimplies fresh action on the part of God: and that the antithesis of the rise of new generations as the old pass away is more forcible than the synonymous parallelism of (1): but (2) involves a somewhat strained interpretation of Return, and the evident allusion to Genesis 3:19 is in favour of (1). The interpretations Return to Me(cp. Ecclesiastes 12:7), and Return to lifein the resurrection, are untenable.