Psalm 139

1 O Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising: thou understandest my thoughts long before.

3 Thou hast traced my path and my bed, and hast foreseen all my ways.

4 For there is no unrighteous word in my tongue: behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things,

5 the last and the first: thou hast fashioned me, and laid thine hand upon me.

6 The knowledge of thee is too wonderful for me; it is very difficult, I cannot attain to it.

7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? and whither shall I flee from my presence?

8 If I should go up to heaven, thou art there: if I should go down to hell, thou art present.

9 If I should spread my wings to fly straight forward, and sojourn at the extremity of the sea, it would be vain,

10 for even there thy hand would guide me, and thy right hand would hold me.

11 When I said, Surely the darkness will cover me; even the night was light in my luxury.

12 For darkness will not be darkness with thee; but night will be light as day: as its darkness, so shall its light be to thee.

13 For thou, O Lord, hast possessed my reins; thou hast helped me from my mother’s womb.

14 I will give thee thanks; for thou art fearfully wondrous; wondrous are thy works; and my soul knows it well.

15 My bones, which thou madest in secret were not hidden from thee, nor my substance, in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes saw my unwrought substance, and all men shall be written in thy book; they shall be formed by day, though there should for a time be no one among them.

17 But thy friends, O God, have been greatly honoured by me; their rule has been greatly strengthened.

18 I will number them, and they shall be multiplied beyond the sand; I awake, and am still with thee.

19 Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, ye men of blood.

20 For thou wilt say concerning their thought, that they shall take thy cities in vain.

21 Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hate thee? and wasted away because of thine enemies?

22 I have hated them with perfect hatred; they were counted my enemies.

23 Prove me, O God, and know my heart; examine me, and know my paths;

24 and see if there is any way of iniquity in me, and lead me in an everlasting way.

Psalm 139 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.