Psalms 139:7-17

7 Whither do I go from Thy Spirit? And whither from Thy face do I flee?

8 If I ascend the heavens -- there Thou [art], And spread out a couch in Sheol, lo, Thee!

9 I take the wings of morning, I dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,

10 Also there Thy hand doth lead me, And Thy right hand doth hold me.

11 And I say, `Surely darkness bruiseth me, Then night [is] light to me.

12 Also darkness hideth not from Thee, And night as day shineth, as [is] darkness so [is] light.

13 For Thou -- Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou dost cover me in my mother's belly.

14 I confess Thee, because that [with] wonders I have been distinguished. Wonderful [are] Thy works, And my soul is knowing [it] well.

15 My substance was not hid from Thee, When I was made in secret, Curiously wrought in the lower part of earth.

16 Mine unformed substance Thine eyes saw, And on Thy book all of them are written, The days they were formed -- And not one among them.

17 And to me how precious have been Thy thoughts, O God, how great hath been their sum!

Psalms 139:7-17 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.