Psalms 139:11-21

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, And the light about me shall be night;

12 Even the darkness hideth not from thee, But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike [to thee].

13 For thou didst form my inward parts: Thou didst cover me in my mother's womb.

14 I will give thanks unto thee; For I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.

15 My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, [And] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, [Even] the days that were ordained [for me], When as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee.

19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: Depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.

20 For they speak against thee wickedly, And thine enemies take [thy name] in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

Psalms 139:11-21 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.