Psalms 139:12-22

12 For why darknesses shall not be made dark from thee, and the night shall be lightened as the day; as the darknesses thereof, so and the light thereof. (But the darkness shall not be dark for thee, and the night shall be like the daylight; yea, to you, the darkness is no different than the light.)

13 For thou haddest in possession my reins; thou tookest me up from the womb of my mother. (For thou haddest my reins in thy possession/For thou formedest my inner parts; yea, thou madest me in my mother's womb.)

14 I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou art magnified dreadfully; thy works be wonderful, and my soul shall know (that) full much. (I shall praise thee, for thou art greatly to be feared/for thou hath filled me with awe; thy works be wonderful, and I truly know that.)

15 My bone, which thou madest in private, is not hid from thee; and my substance (formed) in the lower parts of earth. (My bones, which thou madest in secret, be not a mystery to thee; yea, when my substance was formed in the lower parts of the earth.)

16 Thine eyes saw mine unperfect thing, and all men shall be written in thy book; days shall be formed, and no man is in those. (Thine eyes saw my imperfect substance, and all was written in thy Book; but when those days were formed, no man was there.)

17 Forsooth, God, thy friends be made honourable full much to me; the princehood of them is comforted full much. (But, God, how deep be thy thoughts to me; and how many of them there be!)

18 I shall number them, and they shall be multiplied above the gravel; I rose up, and yet I am with thee. (If I tried to count them all up, their number would be more than all the grains of sand. And then I awake; and still I am with thee.)

19 For thou, God, shalt slay sinners; ye men-quellers, bow away from me. (O God, I wish that thou wouldest kill the sinners; ye murderers, go far away from me!)

20 For they say in thought; Take they their cities in vanity. (For out loud they say against thee, We shall take thy name in vain.)

21 Lord, whether I hated not them that hated thee; and I failed, that is, mourned greatly, on (those who be) thine enemies? (Lord, how I hate those who hate thee; and I am greatly grieved by those who be thy enemies!)

22 By perfect hatred I hated them; they were made enemies to me. (Yea, with perfect hatred I hate them; they be made my enemies too.)

Psalms 139:12-22 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.