Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 90:17

"And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." — Psalms 90:17 (ASV)

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. The word translated “beauty”—נעם nô‛am—properly means “pleasantness;” then beauty, splendor; then grace or favor. The Septuagint renders it here λαμπρότης lamprotēs—“splendor;” and so does the Latin Vulgate.

The wish is clearly that everything in the divine character that is “beautiful”—that which is suited to win the hearts of people to admiration, gratitude, and love—might be so manifested to them. Furthermore, the desire is that they might so see the excellence of his character, and that his dealings with them might be such as to keep the beauty, the loveliness, of that character constantly before them.

And establish thou the work of our hands upon us. What we are endeavoring to do. Enable us to carry out our plans and accomplish our purposes.

Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. The repetition of the prayer here is emphatic. It indicates an intense desire that God would enable them to carry out their plans. If this was written by Moses, we may suppose that it expresses an earnest desire that they might reach the promised land; that they might not all be cut down and perish along the way; that the great object of their march through the wilderness might be accomplished; and that they might be permanently established in the land to which they were going. At the same time, it is a prayer that is proper to offer at any time, that God would enable us to carry out our purposes, and that we may be permanently established in his favor.