Psalm 139
New American Standard Bible 2020
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
1Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far away.
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, Lord, You know it all.
5You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed Your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot comprehend it.
7¶Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will take hold of me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”
12Even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
13¶For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
15My frame was not hidden from You When I was made in secret, And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;
16Your eyes have seen my formless substance; And in Your book were written All the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
17¶How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them!
18Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
19¶If only You would put the wicked to death, God; Leave me, you men of bloodshed.
20For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21Do I not hate those who hate You, Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies.
23¶Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts;
24And see if there is any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Verses to memorize from Psalm 139
- Psalm 139:9-10If I take up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of…
- Psalm 139:14I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made;…
- Psalm 139:23-24¶Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my…
New American Standard Bible 2020 — Licensed through API.Bible, non-commercial use only, no derivatives. Where these translations come from.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org Text unchanged, provided through API.Bible.