LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.

PSALMS 39:4KJV
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Psalms 39:4 (KJV)

What does Psalms 39:4 mean?

Psalms 39:4 is a prayer asking the LORD to make the speaker aware that his life has an end. The speaker wants to understand his own frailty in light of the limited time he has.

The phrase “measure of my days” pictures a lifetime as something with a limit that can be measured. After holding back his words in the preceding verses, the speaker addresses this request directly to the LORD.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 39:4

  • “measure” — מִדָּה (middah): This word can mean a measurement or a determined extent. Here, the speaker treats his days as having a span that can be reckoned.
  • “frail” — חָדֵל (chadel): This word can carry the sense of being short-lived or passing away. The speaker’s frailty is tied to the fact that his life will come to an end.

Why Psalms 39:4 matters

  • The request is for understanding rather than a prediction. The speaker asks to “know” his end and his frailty, expressing a desire to grasp what his limited days mean.
  • The verse begins a direct appeal to the LORD after the speaker has struggled to keep silent. The words “then spake I with my tongue” in verse 3 lead into the prayer in verse 4.
  • The next verse gives the image a sharper scale. In verse 5, the speaker calls his days “an handbreadth,” a small measure, which develops the picture of a limited span.

Where else these words appear

“frail” Hebrew H2310 · used in 3 verses

  • Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
  • Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

“measure” Hebrew H4060 · used in 53 verses

  • Exodus 26:2 The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.
  • Nehemiah 3:20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.
  • Ezekiel 40:28 And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;

“end” Hebrew H7093 · used in 62 verses

  • Genesis 4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
  • Esther 2:12 Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women,(for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
  • Ezekiel 7:3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.