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Psalm 90:12

So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

10The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
11Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?
12So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13Relent, LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
14Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
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← Psalm 90:11Psalm 90:13 →
Notice

Counting days becomes a prayer for God to teach the heart, making life's short span a matter of wisdom as well as passing time.

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

What would you want God to teach you through awareness that your days are limited?

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Where might gaining a heart of wisdom change how you spend one part of this week?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 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
Ephesians 5:16–17redeeming the time, because the days are evil.Both passages treat time as something that matters for how a person lives.
Psalm 39:4“LORD, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.Both prayers ask God to teach the speaker about the measure and limits of human days.
John 9:4I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.Both texts reckon with limited time: the psalm asks for wisdom, and Jesus speaks of work before night comes.
Deuteronomy 32:29Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!Both connect wisdom with considering the end of human life.
Proverbs 4:7Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.Both name wisdom as something to gain, with the psalm seeking it through God's teaching.
Proverbs 3:13–18Happy is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gets understanding.Both present gaining wisdom as a good worth seeking; Proverbs also names the happiness of finding it.
Proverbs 16:16How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.Both value gaining wisdom, while Proverbs makes that value explicit by ranking it above gold.
Proverbs 23:12Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge.Both connect the heart with learning: the psalm asks God to teach, and Proverbs urges attention to instruction.
Luke 12:35–40“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.The link is indirect: the psalm asks for wisdom about days, while Luke pictures someone dressed and ready.
Ecclesiastes 9:10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.Both reckon with life's limits: the psalm seeks a wise heart, and Ecclesiastes urges work in view of death.
Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”Both connect wisdom with God: the psalm asks for his teaching, and Job identifies wisdom with fearing the Lord.
Lamentations 3:27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.The overlap is limited: the psalm seeks wisdom within a brief life, while Lamentations names youth as a time for bearing a yoke.
Where this verse fits

Aging. retirement or purpose. death and what comes after.

What the Bible says about death →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Pray Psalm 90:12 before opening tomorrow's calendar

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Encouragement

The prayer names God as the teacher you need when life's limits come into view. Its hope is a heart made wise within those limits.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 90:12. 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 90 · 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).