Psalms 139:1-9

1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known [me].

2 Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up rising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted [with] all my ways.

4 For [there is] not a word on my tongue, [but] lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me.

6 [Such] knowledge [is] too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot [attain] to it.

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art there].

9 [If] I take the wings of the morning, [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Psalms 139:1-9 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.