Psalms 139:1-6

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.

5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Psalms 139:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, when he lay under the reproach and calumnies of men, who laid false things to his charge; things he was not conscious of either in the time of Saul's persecution of him, or when his son Absalom rebelled against him: and herein he appeals to the heart searching and rein trying God for his innocence; and, when settled on his throne, delivered it to the master of music, to make use of it on proper occasions. According to the Syriac title of the psalm, the occasion of it was Shimei, the son of Gera, reproaching and cursing him as a bloody man, 2 Samuel 16:5. Theodoret takes it to be a prophecy of Josiah, and supposes that he is represented as speaking throughout the psalm. Aben Ezra observes, that this is the most glorious and excellent psalm in all the book: a very excellent one it is: but whether the most excellent, it is hard to say. It treats of some of the most glorious of the divine perfections; omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. Arama says, the argument of it is God's particular knowledge of men, and his providence over their affairs.

Cross References

• 1. S Psalms 17:3; Romans 8:27
• 2. Psalms 44:21; Jeremiah 12:3
• 3. 2 Kings 19:27
• 4. Psalms 94:11; Proverbs 24:12; Jeremiah 12:3; Matthew 9:4; John 2:24
• 5. 2 Kings 19:27
• 6. S Job 31:4
• 7. S Hebrews 4:13
• 8. S 1 Samuel 25:16; Psalms 32:10; Psalms 34:7; Psalms 125:2
• 9. S Psalms 131:1
• 10. Job 42:3; Romans 11:33