Psalms 139:13-23

13 (138-13) For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother’s womb.

14 (138-14) I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.

15 (138-15) My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.

16 (138-16) Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.

17 (138-17) But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.

18 (138-18) I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand, I rose up and am still with thee.

19 (138-19) If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:

20 (138-20) Because you say in thought: They shall receive thy cities in vain.

21 (138-21) Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pined away because of thy enemies?

22 (138-22) I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.

23 (138-23) Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.

Psalms 139:13-23 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.