Psalm 139
Literal Standard Version
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
1TO THE OVERSEER. A PSALM OF DAVID. YHWH, You have searched me, and know.
2You have known my sitting down, || And my rising up, || You have attended to my thoughts from afar.
3You have fanned my path and my lying down, || And have been acquainted [with] all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue, || Behold, O YHWH, You have known it all!
5You have besieged me behind and before, || And You place Your hand on me.
6Knowledge too wonderful for me, || It has been set on high, || I am not able for it.
7To where do I go from Your Spirit? And to where do I flee from Your face?
8If I ascend the heavens—You [are] there, || And spread out a bed in Sheol, behold, You!
9I take the wings of morning, || I dwell in the uttermost part of the sea,
10Also there Your hand leads me, || And Your right hand holds me.
11And I say, “Surely darkness bruises me,” || Then night [is] light to me.
12Also darkness does not hide from You, || And night shines as day, || As [is] darkness so [is] light.
13For You have possessed my reins, || You cover me in my mother’s belly.
14I confess You, because I have been fearfully distinguished. Your works [are] wonderful, || And my soul is knowing [it] well.
15My substance was not hid from You, || When I was made in secret, || Curiously worked in the lower part of earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed substance, || And all of them are written on Your scroll, || The days they were formed—And not one among them.
17And how precious Your thoughts have been to me, || O God, how great has been their sum!
18I recount them! They are more than the sand, || I have awoken, and I am still with You.
19Do You slay, O God, the wicked? Then, men of blood, turn aside from me!
20Who exchange You for wickedness, || Your enemies [are] lifted up to vanity.
21Do I not hate, YHWH, those hating You? And grieve myself with Your withstanders?
22I have hated them [with] perfect hatred, || They have become enemies to me.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart, || Try me, and know my thoughts,
24And see if a grievous way be in me, || And lead me in a perpetual way!
Verses to memorize from Psalm 139
- Psalm 139:9-10I take the wings of morning, || I dwell in the uttermost part of the…
- Psalm 139:14I confess You, because I have been fearfully distinguished. Your works…
- Psalm 139:23-24Search me, O God, and know my heart, || Try me, and know my thoughts,
Literal Standard Version — CC BY-SA 4.0. Where these translations come from.
Copyright © 2020 Covenant Press. Supplied unaltered through eBible.org. Text unchanged, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.