Psalms 139

Known, Held, and Searched by God

6 passages

Overview

Psalm 139 moves from awe at God's penetrating, personal knowledge of the human person, through wonder at his omnipresence and intimate fashioning of each life from the womb, to a declaration of holy zeal against evil, and closes with the psalmist's bold invitation for God to search and purify his innermost heart.

Passages

1–6Naked Before the All-Knowing God 7–12Nowhere to Flee: The All-Pervading Presence of God 13–16Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: God's Intimate Authorship of the Human Person 17–18Wonder at the Vastness of God's Thoughts 19–22Holy Zeal and the Cry Against Evil 23–24The Closing Petition: Invite God's Searching Gaze

Study Resources

Psalms 139

¹For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.

²You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

³You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

⁴For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.

⁵You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.

⁶This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

⁷Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

⁸If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

⁹If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,

¹⁰even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”

¹²even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

¹³For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

¹⁵My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!

¹⁸If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

¹⁹If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

²⁰For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.

²¹Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

²³Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

²⁴See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Psalms 138 Psalms 140