Psalm 139
Darby Translation
Chapter overview
Psalm 139 marvels at complete knowledge and inescapable presence across home, road, height, sea, darkness, and earliest formation. Wonder becomes moral invitation: search the heart and lead it along an enduring way.
PresenceKnowledgeCreationGuidance
1Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known [me].
2Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off;
3Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways;
4For there is not yet a word on my tongue, [but] lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.
5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me.
6O knowledge too wonderful for me! it is high, I cannot [attain] unto it.
7Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? and whither flee from thy presence?
8If I ascend up into the heavens thou art there; or if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou [art there];
9[If] I take the wings of the dawn [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11And if I say, Surely darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night;
12Even darkness hideth not from thee, and the night shineth as the day: the darkness is as the light.
13For thou hast possessed my reins; thou didst cover me in my mother's womb.
14I will praise thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvellous are thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.
15My bones were not hidden from thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth.
16Thine eyes did see my unformed substance, and in thy book all [my members] were written; [during many] days were they fashioned, when [as yet] there was none of them.
17But how precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18[If] I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.
19Oh that thou wouldest slay the wicked, O God! And ye men of blood, depart from me.
20For they speak of thee wickedly, they take [thy name] in vain, thine enemies.
21Do not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee? and do not I loathe them that rise up against thee?
22I hate them with perfect hatred; I account them mine enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts;
24And see if there be any grievous way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.
Verses to memorize from Psalm 139
- Psalm 139:14I will praise thee, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made. Marvellous…
- Psalm 139:23-24Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts;
Darby Translation — Public Domain. Where these translations come from.