Psalm 139:17-24

17 How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O God! How vast in number they are!

18 If I try to count them, there would be more of them than there are grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

19 I wish that you would kill wicked people, O God, and that bloodthirsty people would leave me alone.

20 They say wicked things about you. Your enemies misuse your name.

21 Shouldn't I hate those who hate you, O LORD? Shouldn't I be disgusted with those who attack you?

22 I hate them with all my heart. They have become my enemies.

23 Examine me, O God, and know my mind. Test me, and know my thoughts.

24 See whether I am on an evil path. Then lead me on the everlasting path.

Psalm 139:17-24 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.