myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Psalm 139:14

"I am fearfully and wonderfully made" or "you are fearfully magnified"

Hebrew: "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully set apart (nifleti); wonderful are your works." The library's Greek and Latin make God the subject: "for you are fearfully magnified" (Vulgate "quia terribiliter magnificatus es"; Giguet "vos prodiges ont un éclat terrible").

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
Syriac
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
    New Testament quotation

      Every witness, in order

      1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

        The psalm as first composed

        – No copy survives

        No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

      2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

        Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

        Confitebor tibi, quia terribiliter magnificatus es; mirabilia opera tua, et anima mea cognoscit nimis.

        Latin numbering: Psalm 138:14. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

      3. AD 1008

        Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

        ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

        אֽוֹדְךָ֗ עַ֤ל כִּ֥י נוֹרָא֗וֹת נִ֫פְלֵ֥יתִי נִפְלָאִ֥ים מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָ וְ֝נַפְשִׁ֗י יֹדַ֥עַת מְאֹֽד׃

        I praise you, for I am fearfully, wonderfully made (nifleti); wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it well

        Hebrew numbering: Psalm 139:14.

      4. 1611

        King James Bible

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

        I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

      5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

        Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

        How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

        Je vous rendrai gloire, parce que vos prodiges ont un éclat terrible; vos œuvres sont merveilleuses, et mon âme le sait bien.

        Greek numbering: Psalm 138:14. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check).

      What changed, and why

      Nifleti ("I am wondrously made") is unusual; with a different vowel and person the same letters read as "you are wonderful." The Greek reading praises God's greatness, the Hebrew the wonder of the speaker's making. Some modern translations follow the Greek and Syriac ("you are fearful and wonderful"); most keep the Hebrew.

      The line comes in the passage about formation in the womb (vv. 13–16), so the Hebrew reading fits its context closely.

      What the evidence shows

      • Independently documentedThe Greek/Latin make God the subject of 139:14.

      Sources

        Related lessons

        • 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." "Whither shall I go from thy spirit?… 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…" "Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect." Then: "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked… Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?" "Search me, O God, and know my heart."