Psalms 139:2-24

2 You ¹know when I sit down and when I rise up; You ²understand my thought from afar.

3 You ³scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You ⁴know it all.

5 You have ⁵enclosed me behind and before, And ⁶laid Your hand upon me.

6 Such ⁷knowledge is ⁸too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot * attain to it.

7 ⁹Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 ¹⁰If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, ¹¹You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand will ¹²lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

11 If I say, "Surely the ¹³darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,"

12 Even the ¹⁴darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. ¹⁵Darkness and light are alike to You.

13 For You ¹⁶formed my inward parts; You ¹⁷wove me in my mother's womb.

14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; ¹⁸Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

15 My ¹⁹frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the ²⁰depths of the earth;

16 Your ²¹eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in ²²Your book were all written The ²³days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

17 How precious also are Your ²⁴thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they would ²⁵outnumber the sand. When ²⁶I awake, I am still with You.

19 O that You would ²⁷slay the wicked, O God; ²⁸Depart from me, therefore, ²⁹men of bloodshed.

20 For they ³⁰speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies ³¹take Your name in vain.

21 Do I not ³²hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not ³³loathe those who rise up against You?

22 I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.

23 ³⁴Search me, O God, and know my heart; ³⁵Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24 And see if there be any ³⁶hurtful way in me, And ³⁷lead me in the ³⁸everlasting way.

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Psalms 139:2-24 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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 38

1. 2 Kings 19:27
2. Psalms 94:11; Isaiah 66:18; Matthew 9:4
3. Job 14:16; Job 31:4
4. Hebrews 4:13
5. Psalms 34:7; Psalms 125:2
6. Job 9:33
7. Romans 11:33
8. Job 42:3
9. Jeremiah 23:24
10. Amos 9:2-4
11. Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11
12. Psalms 23:2, 3
13. Job 22:13
14. Job 34:22; Daniel 2:22
15. 1 John 1:5
16. Psalms 119:73; Isaiah 44:24
17. Job 10:11
18. Psalms 40:5
19. Job 10:8-10; Ecclesiastes 11:5
20. Psalms 63:9
21. Job 10:8-10; Ecclesiastes 11:5
22. Psalms 56:8
23. Job 14:5
24. Psalms 40:5; Psalms 92:5
25. Psalms 40:5
26. Psalms 3:5
27. Isaiah 11:4
28. Psalms 6:8; Psalms 119:115
29. Psalms 5:6; Psalms 26:9
30. Jude 15
31. Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11
32. 2 Chronicles 19:2; Psalms 26:5; Psalms 31:6
33. Psalms 119:158
34. Job 31:6; Psalms 26:2
35. Psalms 7:9; Proverbs 17:3; Jeremiah 11:20; 1 Thessalonians 2:4
36. Psalms 146:9; Proverbs 15:9; Proverbs 28:10; Jeremiah 25:5; Jeremiah 36:3
37. Psalms 5:8; Psalms 143:10
38. Psalms 16:11

Footnotes 14

[a]. Lit "my sitting"
[b]. Lit "my rising"
[c]. Lit "winnow"
[d]. Or "journeying"
[e]. Lit "For there is not"
[f]. I.e. the nether world
[g]. Lit "bruise;" some commentators read "cover"
[h]. Lit "from"
[i]. Lit "kidneys"
[j]. Some ancient versions read "You are fearfully wonderful"
[k]. Lit "bones were"
[l]. Or "of"
[m]. Some mss read "lift themselves up" against You
[n]. Lit "way of pain"

Psalms 139:2-24

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Images for Psalms 139:2-24

Psalms 139:2-24 Meaning and Commentary

Cross References 38

Footnotes 14