Psalm 139: You Have Searched Me and Known Me

"O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off… For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before… Such knowledge is too wonderful for me."

"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me… If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me… the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made… My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written… How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!"

"Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men… Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?… I hate them with perfect hatred. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Everywhere: heaven, Sheol, sea

Heaven and Sheol, the east ("wings of the morning," the dawn) and the far west ("the uttermost parts of the sea," the Mediterranean): the four directions of the ancient world. Elsewhere Sheol is beyond God's praise (Psalm 88); here even Sheol is not beyond his presence.

Woven in the womb

"Curiously wrought" (ruqqamti) is the word for embroidery or weaving in many colours; "the lowest parts of the earth" is a poetic name for the hidden place of formation (compare Job 1:21, where the womb and the earth are paired). It is poetry about origins, not an embryology textbook.

"Fearfully and wonderfully made"

139:14 Hebrew: "I praise you, for I am fearfully set apart (nifleti); wonderful are your works." The library's Greek and Latin read "for you are fearfully magnified" (Vulgate "quia terribiliter magnificatus es"; Giguet "vos prodiges ont un éclat terrible"), praising God's greatness rather than the speaker's making. See the passage page.

"My unformed substance"

139:16 golmi, from golem, occurs only here in the Bible: "my embryo, unformed body." Later Jewish legend used "golem" for a creature formed from clay. The rest of v. 16 ("in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned") is difficult Hebrew; it may mean that all the speaker's days were written before any of them existed. The verse is often cited in modern debates about the unborn; the psalm's concern is God's knowledge and care.

The prayer against the wicked

Verses 19–22 are often omitted in liturgical use. They belong to the psalm: a person fully exposed to God declares loyalty against God's enemies, and then asks God to examine whether there is "any wicked way" in him too. The heading is "To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David."