Psalms 139:1-9

1 To the Overseer. -- A Psalm by David. Jehovah, Thou hast searched me, and knowest.

2 Thou -- Thou hast known my sitting down, And my rising up, Thou hast attended to my thoughts from afar.

3 My path and my couch Thou hast fanned, And [with] all my ways hast been acquainted.

4 For there is not a word in my tongue, Lo, O Jehovah, Thou hast known it all!

5 Behind and before Thou hast besieged me, And Thou dost place on me Thy hand.

6 Knowledge too wonderful for me, It hath been set on high, I am not able for it.

7 Whither do I go from Thy Spirit? And whither from Thy face do I flee?

8 If I ascend the heavens -- there Thou [art], And spread out a couch in Sheol, lo, Thee!

9 I take the wings of morning, I dwell in the uttermost part 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.