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Psalm 139

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.

Psalm 139:1 WEB

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

Psalm 139:2 WEB

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

Psalm 139:3 WEB

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

Psalm 139:4 WEB

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

Psalm 139:5 WEB

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

Psalm 139:6 WEB

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

Psalm 139:7 WEB

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

Psalm 139:8 WEB

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

Psalm 139:9 WEB

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

Psalm 139:10 WEB

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

Psalm 139:11 WEB

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

Psalm 139:12 WEB

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

Psalm 139:13 WEB

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

Psalm 139:14 WEB

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

Psalm 139:15 WEB

Your 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.

Psalm 139:16 WEB

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

Psalm 139:17 WEB

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

Psalm 139:18 WEB

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

Psalm 139:19 WEB

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

Psalm 139:20 WEB

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

Psalm 139:21 WEB

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

Psalm 139:22 WEB

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

Psalm 139:23 WEB

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

Psalm 139:24 WEB

End of Psalm 139

Continue reading Psalm 140

What is Psalm 139 about?

Psalm 139 is David's wonder at how completely God knows him. God knows when he sits and rises, his thoughts from far away, and every word before he speaks. There is nowhere he could go to escape God's presence: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit?" (verse 7). God formed him in his mother's womb, and David praises him because "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (verse 14). All his days were written in God's book before one of them came to be. The psalm ends with a prayer for God to search his heart and lead him "in the way everlasting."

What does Psalm 139 mean?

Psalm 139:14

In Psalm 139, David marvels that God knows him completely: when he sits and rises, his thoughts, and every word before he speaks it. Just before this verse he says God formed him in his mother's womb. Then he bursts into praise: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." "Fearfully" here means with awe and reverence; human beings are a work so remarkable that it should make us stand in wonder at the Maker. David adds that his soul knows this "right well." The verse speaks powerfully to anyone who struggles with self-worth. Every person bears the careful craftsmanship of God and is valued by him.

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