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Psalm 39:4

“LORD, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.

2I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.
3My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned. I spoke with my tongue:
4“LORD, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.
5Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
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← Psalm 39:3Psalm 39:5 →
Notice

The request to know the measure of one’s days brings mortality into prayer, where the wish to understand life meets the discomfort of facing its limits.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What feels hardest about asking God to show you how frail you are?

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How does asking God about the measure of your days differ from worrying about their end?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

6 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 90:12So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.Both prayers ask God to teach the speaker about numbered days, with Psalm 90 naming wisdom as the hoped-for fruit.
Job 14:5Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass.Both passages speak of the measure of human life before God; Job states that God has set its bounds.
Psalm 103:14For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.Human frailty links these verses: Psalm 39 asks to understand it, while Psalm 103 says God remembers that humans are dust.
Psalm 119:84How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?Both speakers ask God about the length of their days, though Psalm 119 also asks for judgment against persecutors.
Job 14:13“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!Both prayers address God concerning mortality, though Job asks for shelter in Sheol and a set time to be remembered.
Job 7:1“Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?Both passages consider human days and their constraints; Psalm 39 names frailty, while Job compares life to a hired hand’s labor.
Where this verse fits

Aging. death and what comes after. illness or diagnosis.

What the Bible says about death →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Write a short prayer about your limits using this verse

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Encouragement

After silence and mounting sorrow, the speaker brings his frailty to God. Your limits belong in prayer too; this psalm addresses the Lord with the hard question still open.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 39:4. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 39 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).