Psalm 139: Known completely by the LORD
The God who knows, accompanies and forms His servant is asked to expose sin and lead him in the everlasting way.
Where Psalm 139 sits
- In the story
- Act IV, Israel: Exodus–Malachi · The Kingdom, c. 1050–930 BC
- In the Bible
- Old Testament · Wisdom & Poetry · chapter 139 of 150 in Psalms
- In Psalms
- Book V: gathered people learn enduring praise, 107–150
- Before
- Psalm 138: Your love will finish Your work
- After
- Psalm 140: Defend the poor against violence
Psalm 139 summary
David marvels at God's complete knowledge of his words and actions (1–6). Height, depth, distance and darkness cannot remove him from God's reach (7–12). The singer praises the Maker who knew his unformed life and appointed his days (13–18). Opposition to God's enemies ends in a request for searching correction and guidance (19–24).
Psalm 139 in context
- Speaking
- David, as named in the superscription.
- Written for
- The LORD and the worshiping congregation, with instruction for all who receive this song as Scripture.
- Around it
- The final request returns to the searching knowledge of the opening. Womb imagery gives human life dignity; the depths-of-earth metaphor does not relocate gestation underground.
The sections of Psalm 139
Read Psalm 139
You Have Searched Me and Known Me
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1O LORD, You have searched me
and known me.
2You know when I sit and when I rise;
You understand my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down;
You are aware of all my ways.
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, O LORD.
5You hem me in behind and before;
You have laid Your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle by the farthest sea,
10even there Your hand will guide me;
Your right hand will hold me fast.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light become night around me”—
12even the darkness is not dark to You,
but the night shines like the day,
for darkness is as light to You.
13For You formed my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I praise You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are Your works,
and I know this very well.
15My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was woven together
in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all my days were written in Your book
and ordained for me
before one of them came to be.
17How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God,
how vast is their sum!
18If I were to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;
and when I awake,
I am still with You.
19O God, that You would slay the wicked—
away from me, you bloodthirsty men—
20who speak of You deceitfully;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD,
and detest those who rise against You?
22I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them as my enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
24See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the way everlasting.
Berean Standard Bible, 24 verses. The BSB is in the public domain.
Around Psalm 139
Near it in Book V: gathered people learn enduring praise
- Psalm 133
- Psalm 134
- Psalm 135
- Psalm 136
- Psalm 137
- Psalm 138
- Psalm 140
- Psalm 141
- Psalm 142
- Psalm 143
- Psalm 144
- Psalm 145
Read alongside
- Revelation 2
Chapters that point here
- Job 10
Questions on Psalm 139
Why does complete divine knowledge lead to a request for personal examination?
The answers are in TheoMaps Challenges.
Plus What TheoMaps holds for Psalm 139
- How Psalm 139 points to Christ
- What each of its 4 sections says, and how one leads into the next
- Why that chapter belongs beside it
- The answers to its questions, in Challenges
TheoMaps Plus opens every book the way Genesis is open, on the map, with Challenges to help you remember it.