Unless otherwise stated, all citations are taken from the New International Version (NIV).
What is the genre of this psalm? This is unclear, and scholars are generally “divided on the genre.”[1] The psalm incorporates “elements of lament, praise, and wisdom.”[2]
David begins by praising God for who and what He is. Then, he applies this knowledge to his relationship with God.
Omniscience: God knows EVERYTHING
(139:1) You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.
“Search… know.” David opens and closes with these words (v.23). This forms an inclusio for the psalm, demonstrating that this is the central message. What do we learn about God’s knowledge of David?
(139:2) You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
“Sit and… rise.” This is an example of a merism. A merism captures everything in between two extreme opposites. It’s similar to saying, “We searched high and low.”
“You perceive my thoughts from afar.” God not only knows David’s actions; he even knows his thoughts. He knows absolutely everything about David’s external and internal worlds.
(139:3) You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
“Going out… lying down” is another merism. God knows everything about David from when he wakes up in the morning to when he goes to sleep at night.
(139:4) Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.
God knows David’s future actions. This means that he knows absolutely everything about David—his past life, present circumstances, and future choices. He continuously watches over David.
(139:5) You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
“Hem me in.” The Hebrew can be literally translated, “Behind and before, you have encircled/besieged me.”[3] Without a context, the language can be taken as either positive or negative. However, in context, the idea is resolutely positive (cf. Job 1:10). David feels “nestled in the Lord’s protective grip, safe from assault from every direction.”[4] The NLT renders this passage in this way: “You go before me and follow me.”[5] David feels secure in the fact that God is leading him from the front, and also protecting his back.
“You lay your hand upon me.” A God like this could be very scary to consider. Yet VanGemeren writes, “However, the accused is not afraid of his judge. The divine Judge is more than an arbiter, because he is also the one in whom the psalmist has found protection.”[6] Like a father putting his hand on his son’s shoulder, God has his hands on David’s life (v.5). If earthly fathers love to hold their children, how much more does God?
(139:6) Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
The omniscience of God wasn’t merely an abstract theological doctrine for David. It blew his mind! The NLT renders this as, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” When we put all of this together, we see that God knew David more accurately than David even knew himself.
Conclusions
Does God’s omniscience comfort you or scare you? What are your deepest secrets? Consider the shameful areas of your life that you’ve never shared with anyone else. How does it make you feel that God knows you so exhaustively, intimately, and transparently? How would you feel if another person knew you to this extent? For example, what if the government knew you to this extent?
The paradox of being known and being loved. It’s impossible to be loved by others without being known by them. After all, could we really consider someone to be in a deep love relationship if they were lying about who they really were? But that’s the problem: we all hold back who we are from others. We could explain the paradox in this way: We want to be known because we want to be loved, but we don’t want to be known because we want to be loved.
Think about this another way. The more others know us, the less loveable we become. They see our sins, selfishness, and shortcomings. This would cause them to pull away from us. However, if we aren’t honest about who we are, then our love relationship is built on a lie. They don’t really love us, but only a well curated image of us.
How can we avoid this paradox? We need Christ. We need the One who knows every single one of our flaws down to our very core, but who still refuses to let us go. Christ doesn’t love us because we are loveable. He loves us because he is love (1 Jn. 4:16). The only eyes in the universe that matter look at you with love.
God thinks about us more than we think about him. It’s remarkable that God would think about someone as miniscule and minor as me. Indeed, it’s amazing that God would even think about me once! Who else thinks about me this much? Most people don’t give me a second thought, and most people don’t care about me. But God thinks about me all the time. He can’t get me off of his mind. Truly, if God thinks about me that much, shouldn’t I spend time thinking about Him?[7]
For further study, see “Omniscience.”
Omnipresence: God exists EVERYWHERE
(139:7) Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
God’s “Spirit” and “presence” are synonymously parallel. That is, God’s Spirit is his presence. Since God is spirit (Jn. 4:24), he is present everywhere. This is not pantheism, where God is the spread throughout the universe. Rather, this is theism, where God’s full presence is aware and active at each part of the universe.
“Where can I flee from your presence?” The term “flee” (bāraḥ) typically occurs in narratives in the OT, where it refers to “flight from an enemy.”[8] It is the same word used of Jonah who “ran away (bāraḥ) from the LORD and headed for Tarshish” (Jon. 1:3).
(139:8) If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
God exists as high as you can imagine (“heaven”) or as low as you imagine (“depths”).
(139:9-10) If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
God exists as far east as you can imagine (“dawn”) or as far west as you imagine (“far side of the sea”).
(139:11-12) If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
God doesn’t need light to see us. His omniscient eyes see everything. Again, this would be terrifying if God wasn’t a God of grace, love, and forgiveness. But, to David, God’s omniscience was a sign of protection. Estes writes, “Whatever the specific reference for darkness, the Lord illumines the darkness, seeing through all the threats that could frighten him (cf. Job 34:22), and that comforts the psalmist. The Lord is present with him, even in times of utter darkness (cf. Ps 23:4).”[9]
Conclusions
Why would David want to flee from God? It’s not uncommon to see people “ghost” others immediately after sharing about deep shame in their lives or from their past. While it’s relieving to share about our failures or faults, many people want to run away from being known to that level. Perhaps David felt threatened by God’s omniscience. Fortunately for David, he didn’t run away from God. Instead, he took the chance to get to know God deeply.
There is no God forsaken place. God exists everywhere. God is aware of every aspect of existence, and he is able to act in all locations in existence (see “Omnipresence”).
Creation: God designed ME
(139:13) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
“Knit me” (sakhakh) implies that God took time in creating us (Job 10:11).
“Inmost being” (kilyâ) literally refers to the “kidneys.”[10] Modern people state that we feel emotions “in our hearts,” or we might say, “Let your heart be your guide.” In this culture, the “kidneys were considered to be synonymous with the mind (Ps 7:9; 26:2) and the center of human emotion (Ps 73:21; Prov 23:16).”
(139:14) I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
“Fearfully” (yārēʾ) refers to “reverence and awe.”[11]
“Wonderfully” (nip̱lêṯî) means “to be different, striking, remarkable—outside of the power of human comprehension.”[12] The Hebrew can be “legitimately translated… awesomely wonderful.”[13] The psalmist uses these same words to describe the miraculous acts of God at the Exodus (Ps. 106:22).
(139:15) My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
“Woven together” (rāqam) refers to embroidery. It is the same term used “in the directions for making the tabernacle in Exodus.”[14] God took his time creating you—with all of the creativity and craftmanship of a sculptor.
(139:16) Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
“Ordained” (yāṣar) means “planned.”[15] God didn’t just know David’s past in the womb, but he also knew David’s future on the day of his death. God foreknows every day that we will ever live. God knew all of the good days you’d live through and all of the bad days you’d live through. He saw them all in advance, and he thought it was worth it to bring you into existence.
(139:17) How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
“Precious” (yāqar) implies that David made his relationship with God the treasure of his life. Kidner writes, “Such divine knowledge is not only ‘wonderful’ (cf. verse 6) but precious, since it carries its own proof of infinite commitment: God will not leave the work of his own hands (138:8c), either to chance or to ultimate extinction.”[16]
(139:18) Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.
God is the Cosmic Creator and Sustainer of the universe, but he thinks about me constantly. Why would God think about someone like me so much? I think about myself enough. Why are you thinking about me too? Shouldn’t God spend time thinking about important people rather than me? The answer would surely be, Yes, if God was finite. But he is infinite. So, it is effortless for him to think about me as much as he wants.
Conclusions
You are not a mistake. You are not a cosmic accident—the random product of matter and energy, time and chance. You are also not the “accident” of your parents. God knew you from the womb, and he knows the day you will die. Surely he knows every other day in between!
You are not mass produced. You were not made off of an assembly line. You were handcrafted—knit by God himself. Most people hate their bodies because they don’t look a certain way. But will you agree with God that you are wonderfully created? Are you able to say that you love the way that God created you?
Who would hate a God like this?
Often, David begins his writing by focusing on his problems, and ending with God’s truth. Here, he began with key truths about God, and he ends with his problems. He meditated before he was ready to face his current external enemies and internal hatred.
(139:19-22) If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! 20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
“Bloodthirsty.” Sensible and modern people find these statements uncouth. However, what are you supposed to pray when evil, murderous people threaten to kill you? You could be a pacifist and allow them to hack you to death. You could run away and surrender your home and land, living in poverty. You could kill them in self-defense. Or you could pray that God would be the one to be the ultimate judge.
“Speak of you with evil intent.” How should we react when people hate God? Imagine if someone said that your mother was a whore.
See What about the “Cursings” in the Psalms?
Self-reflection
(139:23) Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
“Search… know.” David ends where he began (v.1). However, these verbs are in the indicative mood at the beginning of the psalm, but they are in the imperative mood at the end.[17] In other words, David knows that God searches him (v.1), but he wants to know what God knows about him. Kidner writes, “David does not confine his attack to the evil around him: he faces what may be within him.”[18]
(139:24) See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
David is asking, “Am I being a hypocrite? If I am, I want you to show me that. I’m incapable of seeing this in myself.”
Paraphrase of Psalm 139
“I know everything about you. I know what’s in your heart and in your head. I know all of your actions. I even know the words you’re going to say before you say them. Let my knowledge of you bring you comfort, knowing that my hand is on your life. No matter where you go, I want you to know that I am there with you. I’m never going to leave you. After all, I carefully created you in the womb—like an artist working on his masterpiece. I love the way that I made you, and you can’t even fathom how much I care about you. Even though I offer love like this, many people hate me and hate you because you love me. Leave their judgment to Me. For now, let me search your heart and know you deeper and deeper.”
[1] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 835.
[2] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 551.
[3] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 553.
[4] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 553.
[5] Alter understands this to refer to being created by God—just like a potter with clay. He bases this on the later context (vv.13-16). But the immediate context doesn’t support this conclusion. Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), 480.
[6] Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 836.
[7] I am indebted to Wiersbe for this insight. Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: Old Testament (Colorado: David Cook Publications, 2007), 1040.
[8] Earl S. Kalland, “284 בָּרַח,” ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 131.
[9] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 555.
[10] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 556.
[11] Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, “The Songs of the Ascents: Psalms,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 965.
[12] Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, “The Songs of the Ascents: Psalms,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 965.
[13] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 502.
[14] See footnote. Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 557.
[15] Daniel J. Estes, Psalms 73-150, ed. E. Ray. Clendenen, vol. 13, New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2019), 557.
[16] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 503.
[17] Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth LaNeel Tanner, “The Songs of the Ascents: Psalms,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr., The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014), 966.
[18] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 504.