Psalms 90:10–12
The psalmist asks God to teach us to number our days
Study it word by word10The days of our years —in them seventy years, and if by strength eighty years; and their pride is suffering and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
11Who knows the strength of your anger, and, according to the fear of you, your wrath?
12To number our days, so teach us, and we will bring a heart of wisdom.
In its context
8You have set our iniquities before you, our secrets in the light of your face.
9For all our days decline in your wrath; we finish our years like a murmur.
…
13Return, YHWH! How long? And relent concerning your servants.
14Satisfy us in the morning with your loyal love, and we will shout for joy and rejoice all our days.
Its words in the original
- יְמֵיyeme· day
Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").
- שְׁנוֹתֵיshenote· year
Year.
- שִׁבְעִיםshivim· seventy
Seventy.
- גְבוּרֹתgevurot· might
Strength, might; mighty deed, victory.
- שְׁמוֹנִיםshemonim· eighty
Eighty.
- רָהְבָּrahba· pride
Pride; what someone is proud of. It appears only once.
- עָמָלamal· trouble, toil
Hard work, trouble, suffering.
- אָוֶןaven· wickedness, trouble
Wickedness, trouble: what is empty and comes to nothing; also the evil and the affliction it brings.
- גָזgaz· pass quickly; bring across
Pass quickly; of the wind, bring something from one place to another.
- חִישׁchish· quickly
Quickly, in haste. It appears only once as an adverb.
- נָּעֻפָnaufa· fly
Fly; also flutter, dart.
- יוֹדֵעַyodea· know
Know. Not only having a fact: it is knowing by experience and closely; also recognize, care for, make known. So Hebrew also uses it for the intimate union of a man and his wife ("he knew his wife").
- עֹזoz· strength, might
Strength, power.
- אַפֶּape· anger, nose
Nose, nostrils. Since breathing grows hard in anger, the same word also means "anger"; sometimes "face".
- יִרְאָתְyirat· fear
Fear. "The fear of God" is deep reverence that leads one to obey him and avoid evil.
- עֶבְרָתֶevrate· fury
Overflowing rage, fury.
- מְנוֹתmenot· count
Count, number how many there are; also appoint.
- נָבִאnavi· come, go in, bring
Come, arrive, go in, enter. In the causative form, "bring" or "carry in". "Go in to" a woman is to have marital relations with her.
- לְבַבlevav· heart
Heart: the inner part of the person, where one thinks, feels and decides.
- חָכְמָהchachma· wisdom, skill
Wisdom: knowing how to live and act well; also the skill of a good craftsman.