STUDY / LIVING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE / HYMNS

Teach me the measure of my days Second Part The vanity of man as mortal

Isaac Watts's setting of Psalm 39:4–7, printed in 1719 in The Psalms of David Imitated, where he set the psalms "in the language of the New Testament".

WRITTEN BY

Isaac Watts 1674–1748

PRINTED

1719 The Psalms of David Imitated · no. 2

METRE

Common Metre 8.6.8.6 · 6 stanzas

WRITTEN ON

Psalm 39:4–7 the verse printed above it

The hymn, and the Scripture in it

All 6 stanzas as Watts printed them, with the verses their lines echo beside them. Point at a line to join it to its verse; click to read the passage.

SHARED WORDSthe verse shares the line's wording ECHOproposed by an AI model, confirmed by a separate check Not the author's own notes

The psalm it sets

Watts made this hymn from Psalm 39:4–7, "in the language of the New Testament": a paraphrase, not a translation. The line that comes closest to it is marked.

4“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. 5You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah 6Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away. 7And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You. PSALM 39:4–7 · BEREAN STANDARD BIBLE READ PSALM 39

Teach me the measure of my days, Thou maker of my frame; I would survey life's narrow space, And learn' how frail I am. STANZA I

Its place in the book

Watts's psalms run from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150, several settings to many psalms: 367 hymns. This is number 2. Point at a tick to see the hymn; click it to open that hymn.

NO. 2 · ISAAC WATTS · THIS HYMN Teach me the measure of my days

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