For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
Psalm 139 is a powerful song about God's sovereignty and care. The 24 verses break into four stanzas, reflecting on God's omniscience, omnipresence, creativity and righteousness. Each passage gives important insight into the relationship of God with his people. Alter calls this "one of the most remarkably introspective psalms" and Kidner calls this psalm "intensely personal." According to Kidner, the Gelineau translation gives this psalm the heading, "The Hound of Heaven."
Psalm 139:1-4, Completely known!
O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
The words used in this passage are strong and vivid. The Hebrew word reba (רֶבַע) is translated "lying down." It appears only here in the Old Testament. Alter argues that it is a rare word that one might associate with an animal's lair, a place for an animal to rest. Another vivid word in verse 3 is zarah (זָרָה), translated "discern" by the NIV, but meaning "to analyze." Alter argues that the word is an agricultural term, "to winnow."
Psalm 139:5-6, Behind and before
You hem me in‑‑behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
The phrase "laid your hand upon me," is a comforting phrase, reminiscent of the potter's molding hand on the clay (Alter.) The guidance of God's comforting hand is beyond understanding, says the psalmist.
Psalm 139:7-10, Omniscience
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
Even if David could fly with the sun, rising in the east at dawn and traversing westward across the world, to set into the sea, even there, God is with David. The sea, possibly meant to be the Mediterranean Sea to the far west of Israel, might also, in the culture of the ANE, represent the chaos of Sheol.
The passage echoes, in a much more positive way, the omniscience described in Amos 9:2. Not only is God omniscient, but His knowledge is personal, focused on the psalmist. In the New Testament, Paul offers similar wonder in Romans 8:35‑39.
David's claim, in verse 10, that God guides him (nachah, נָחָה, to lead, guide) reappears as a final request in the final verse of the song.
Psalm 139:11-12, Even in darkness
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Darkness is an undercurrent of this psalm, sometimes explicit (as in these verses), sometimes subtly in the background. We will see that in verses that follow. Darkness is often, in ANE culture, a metaphor for death and Sheol.
Psalm 139:13-16, Knit in the womb
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
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,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
The dark chaotic sea of verse 9 was a safe place; here David described being formed in the darkness of his mother's womb, in "the secret place", in the depths of the earth." The "depths of the earth" might merely be a metaphor for the womb but it also hints at Sheol and darkness.
Job also expresses, as part of a lament (see Job 10), his awareness that God has shaped him in detail.
Psalm 139:17-18, Your thoughts and nearness
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
Now David's psalm turns to God's personal interaction with David. The God who never sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4) is still thinkgin about David when David awakes in the morning.
Psalm 139:19-22, I hate those who hate you!
If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
The sudden anger at the wicked is typical of the psalms. Although these "imprecatory" passages are disquieting to some, I think David's energetic rejection of evil is a natural part of his prayer. (See this blogpost on imprecatory psalms.)
The Hebrew word for God in verse 19 is eloah (אֱלוֹהַּ), an unusual term which, says Alter, "occurs only in poetry and is especially common in Job."
Psalm 139:23-24, Lead me!
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Verse 23 echoes the request in verse 1, to be searched and known. The guidance of verse 10 becomes a particular request to be led along God's righteous way.
Some Hebrew Vocabulary
The Hebrew word nachah,
נָחָה
is a verb to lead, to guide.
Some Random Thoughts
Jan and I memorized this psalm around 1975, when we were dating. Later, with friend Tina Elacqua, we led a four-week study of this psalm at Mt. Pleasant Community Church in January 1996. Each class period focused on a stanza of six verses.
I remember, when Jan and I were dating (and reciting this psalm) of being especially impressed that my girlfriend was wonderfully made (verse 14)! Maybe it took some faith to believe I was wonderfully made, but Jannie's beauty was pretty obvious to me. (Still is.)
First published November 24, 2025; updated November 24, 2025
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