Psalm 139:4-14

4 Pues aun no está la palabra en mi lengua, Y he aquí, oh Jehová, tú la sabes toda.

5 Detrás y delante me guarneciste, Y sobre mí pusiste tu mano.

6 Más maravillosa es la ciencia que mi capacidad; Alta es, no puedo comprenderla.

7 ¿Adónde me iré de tu espíritu? ¿Y adónde huiré de tu presencia?

8 Si subiere á los cielos, allí estás tú: Y si en abismo hiciere mi estrado, he aquí allí tú estás.

9 Si tomare las alas del alba, Y habitare en el extremo de la mar,

10 Aun allí me guiará tu mano, Y me asirá tu diestra.

11 Si dijere: Ciertamente las tinieblas me encubrirán; Aun la noche resplandecerá tocante á mí.

12 Aun las tinieblas no encubren de ti, Y la noche resplandece como el día: Lo mismo te son las tinieblas que la luz.

13 Porque tú poseiste mis riñones; Cubrísteme en el vientre de mi madre.

14 Te alabaré; porque formidables, maravillosas son tus obras: Estoy maravillado, Y mi alma lo conoce mucho.

Psalm 139:4-14 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.