Psalms 139

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 Lord, you have seen what is in my heart. You know all about me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know what I'm thinking even though you are far away.

3 You know when I go out to work and when I come back home. You know exactly how I live.

4 Lord, even before I speak a word, you know all about it.

5 You are all around me. You are behind me and in front of me. You hold me in your power.

6 I'm amazed at how well you know me. It's more than I can understand.

7 How can I get away from your Spirit? Where can I go to escape from you?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the deepest parts of the earth, you are also there.

9 Suppose I were to rise with the sun in the east and then cross over to the west where it sinks into the ocean.

10 Your hand would always be there to guide me. Your right hand would still be holding me close.

11 Suppose I were to say, "I'm sure the darkness will hide me. The light around me will become as dark as night."

12 Even that darkness would not be dark to you. The night would shine like the day, because darkness is like light to you.

13 You created the deepest parts of my being. You put me together inside my mother's body.

14 How you made me is amazing and wonderful. I praise you for that. What you have done is wonderful. I know that very well.

15 None of my bones was hidden from you when you made me inside my mother's body. That place was as dark as the deepest parts of the earth. When you were putting me together there,

16 your eyes saw my body even before it was formed. You planned how many days I would live. You wrote down the number of them in your book before I had lived through even one of them.

17 God, your thoughts about me are priceless. No one can possibly add them all up.

18 If I could count them, they would be more than the grains of sand. If I were to fall asleep counting and then wake up, you would still be there with me.

19 God, I wish you would kill the people who are evil! I wish those murderers would get away from me!

20 They are your enemies. They misuse your name. They misuse it for their own evil purposes.

21 Lord, I really hate those who hate you! I really hate those who rise up against you!

22 I have nothing but hatred for them. I consider them to be my enemies.

23 God, see what is in my heart. Know what is there. Put me to the test. Know what I'm thinking.

24 See if there's anything in my life you don't like. Help me live in the way that is always right.

Psalms 139 Commentary

Chapter 139

God knows all things. (1-6) He is every where present. (7-16) The psalmist's hatred to sin, and desire to be led aright. (17-24)

Verses 1-6 God has perfect knowledge of us, and all our thoughts and actions are open before him. It is more profitable to meditate on Divine truths, applying them to our own cases, and with hearts lifted to God in prayer, than with a curious or disputing frame of mind. That God knows all things, is omniscient; that he is every where, is omnipresent; are truths acknowledged by all, yet they are seldom rightly believed in by mankind. God takes strict notice of every step we take, every right step and every by step. He knows what rule we walk by, what end we walk toward, what company we walk with. When I am withdrawn from all company, thou knowest what I have in my heart. There is not a vain word, not a good word, but thou knowest from what thought it came, and with what design it was uttered. Wherever we are, we are under the eye and hand of God. We cannot by searching find how God searches us out; nor do we know how we are known. Such thoughts should restrain us from sin.

Verses 7-16 We cannot see God, but he can see us. The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord. Whither can I go? In the most distant corners of the world, in heaven, or in hell, I cannot go out of thy reach. No veil can hide us from God; not the thickest darkness. No disguise can save any person or action from being seen in the true light by him. Secret haunts of sin are as open before God as the most open villanies. On the other hand, the believer cannot be removed from the supporting, comforting presence of his Almighty Friend. Should the persecutor take his life, his soul will the sooner ascend to heaven. The grave cannot separate his body from the love of his Saviour, who will raise it a glorious body. No outward circumstances can separate him from his Lord. While in the path of duty, he may be happy in any situation, by the exercise of faith, hope, and prayer.

Verses 17-24 God's counsels concerning us and our welfare are deep, such as cannot be known. We cannot think how many mercies we have received from him. It would help to keep us in the fear of the Lord all the day long, if, when we wake in the morning, our first thoughts were of him: and how shall we admire and bless our God for his precious salvation, when we awake in the world of glory! Surely we ought not to use our members and senses, which are so curiously fashioned, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But our immortal and rational souls are a still more noble work and gift of God. Yet if it were not for his precious thoughts of love to us, our reason and our living for ever would, through our sins, prove the occasion of our eternal misery. How should we then delight to meditate on God's love to sinners in Jesus Christ, the sum of which exceeds all reckoning! Sin is hated, and sinners lamented, by all who fear the Lord. Yet while we shun them we should pray for them; with God their conversion and salvation are possible. As the Lord knows us thoroughly, and we are strangers to ourselves, we should earnestly desire and pray to be searched and proved by his word and Spirit. if there be any wicked way in me, let me see it; and do thou root it out of me. The way of godliness is pleasing to God, and profitable to us; and will end in everlasting life. It is the good old way. All the saints desire to be kept and led in this way, that they may not miss it, turn out of it, or tire in it.

Chapter Summary

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.