3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
         And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
         Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

5You have enclosed me behind and before,
         And laid Your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
         It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

7Where 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 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 lay hold of me.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
         And the light around me will be night,”

12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
         And the night is as bright as the day.
         Darkness and light are alike to You.

13For You formed my inward parts;
         You wove me in my mother’s womb.

14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully 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 wrought in the depths of the earth;

16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
         And in Your book were all written
         The days that were ordained for me,
         When as yet there was not one of them.

17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
         How vast is the sum of them!

18If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
         When I awake, I am still with You.

19O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
         Depart from me, therefore, 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, O LORD?
         And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?

22I hate them with the utmost hatred;
         They have become my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

24And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
         And lead me in the everlasting way.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
You alone know when I sit down and when I get up. You read my thoughts from far away.

King James Bible
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Douay-Rheims Bible
thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up.

Darby Bible Translation
Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off;

English Revised Version
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up rising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

World English Bible
You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

Young's Literal Translation
Thou -- Thou hast known my sitting down, And my rising up, Thou hast attended to my thoughts from afar.

Cross References

Matthew 9:4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?

2 Kings 19:27 'But I know your sitting down, And your going out and your coming in, And your raging against Me.

Psalm 44:21 Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.

Psalm 94:11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath.

Isaiah 66:18 "For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.

Lamentations 3:63 Look on their sitting and their rising; I am their mocking song.

Daniel 2:30 "But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

PSALM 139

Some of the Jewish doctors are of opinion that this is the most excellent of all the psalms of David; and a very pious devout meditation it is upon the doctrine of God's omniscience, which we should therefore have our hearts fixed upon and filled with in singing this psalm. I. This doctrine is here asserted, and fully laid down (v. 1-6). II. It is confirmed by two arguments:-1. God is every where present; therefore he knows all (v. 7-12). 2. He made us, therefore he knows us (v. 13-16). III. Some inferences are drawn from this doctrine. 1. It may fill us with pleasing admiration of God (v. 17, 18). 2. With a holy dread and detestation of sin and sinners (v. 19-22). 3. With a holy satisfaction in our own integrity, concerning which we may appeal to God (v. 23, 24). This great and self-evident truth, That God knows our hearts, and the hearts of all the children of men, if we did but mix faith with it and seriously consider it and apply it, would have a great influence upon our holiness and upon our comfort.

To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

Verses 1-6

David here lays down this great doctrine, That the God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us, and that all the motions and actions both of our inward and of our outward man are naked and open before him.

I. He lays down this doctrine in the way of an address to God; he says it to him, acknowledging it to him, and giving him the glory of it. Divine truths look fully as well when they are prayed over as when they are preached over, and much better than when they are disputed over. When we speak of God to him himself we shall find ourselves concerned to speak with the utmost degree both of sincerity and reverence, which will be likely to make the impressions the deeper.

II. He lays it down in a way of application to himself, not, "Thou hast known all," but, "Thou hast known me; that is it which I am most concerned to believe and which it will be most profitable for me to consider." Then we know these things for our good when we know them for ourselves, Job 5:27. When we acknowledge, "Lord, all souls are thine," we must add, "My soul is thine; thou that hatest all sin hatest my sin; thou that art good to all, good to Israel, art good to me." So here, "Thou hast searched me, and known me; known me as thoroughly as we know that which we have most diligently and exactly searched into." David was a king, and the hearts of kings are unsearchable to their subjects (Prov. 25:3), but they are not so to their Sovereign.

III. He descends to particulars: "Thou knowest me wherever I am and whatever I am doing, me and all that belongs to me." 1. "Thou knowest me and all my motions, my down-sitting to rest, my up-rising to work, with what temper of mind I compose myself when I sit down and stir up myself when I rise up, what my soul reposes itself in as its stay and support, what it aims at and reaches towards as its felicity and end. Thou knowest me when I come home, how I walk before my house, and when I go abroad, on what errands I go." 2. "Thou knowest all my imaginations. Nothing is more close and quick than thought; it is always unknown to others; it is often unobserved by ourselves, and yet thou understandest my thought afar off. Though my thoughts be ever so foreign and distant from one another, thou understandest the chain of them, and canst make out their connexion, when so many of them slip my notice that I myself cannot." Or, "Thou understandest them afar off, even before I think them, and long after I have thought them and have myself forgotten them." Or, "Thou understandest them from afar; from the height of heaven thou seest into the depths of the heart," Ps. 33:14. 3. "Thou knowest me and all my designs and undertakings; thou compassest every particular path; thou siftest (or winnowest) my path" (so some), "so as thoroughly to distinguish between the good and evil of what I do," as by sifting we separate between the corn and the chaff. All our actions are ventilated by the judgment of God, Ps. 17:3. God takes notice of every step we take, every right step and every by-step. He is acquainted with all our ways, intimately acquainted with them; he knows what rule we walk by, what end we walk towards, what company we walk with. 4. "Thou knowest me in all my retirements; thou knowest my lying down; when I am withdrawn from all company, and am reflecting upon what has passed all day and composing myself to rest, thou knowest what I have in my heart and with what thought I go to bed." 5. "Thou knowest me, and all I say (v. 4): There is not a word in my tongue, not a vain word, nor a good word, but thou knowest it altogether, knowest what it meant, from what thought it came, and with what design it was uttered. There is not a word at my tongue's end, ready to be spoken, yet checked and kept in, but thou knowest it." When there is not a word in my tongue, O Lord! thou knowest all (so some read it); for thoughts are words to God. 6. "Thou knowest me in every part of me: Thou hast beset me behind and before, so that, go which way I will, I am under thy eye and cannot possibly escape it. Thou hast laid thy hand upon me, and I cannot run away from thee." Wherever we are we are under the eye and hand of God. perhaps it is an allusion to the physician's laying his hand upon his patient to feel how his pulse beats or what temper he is in. God knows us as we know not only what we see, but what we feel and have our hands upon. All his saints are in his hand.

IV. He speaks of it with admiration (v. 6): It is too wonderful for me; it is high. 1. "Thou hast such a knowledge of me as I have not of myself, nor can have. I cannot take notice of all my own thoughts, nor make such a judgment of myself as thou makest of me."? 2. "It is such a knowledge as I cannot comprehend, much less describe. That thou knowest all things I am sure, but how I cannot tell." We cannot by searching find out how God searches and finds out us; nor do we know how we are known.

Calvin's Commentary

1. O Jehovah! thou hast searched me, and knowest me. 2. Thou hast known my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3. Thou besiegest my path, and my lying clown, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord! Thou knowest it altogether. 5. Thou hast shut me up behind and before, and hast laid thine hand upon me. 6. Thy knowledge is wonderful above me: [200] it is high, I cannot attain to it.

1. O Jehovah! thou hast searched me David declares, in the outset of this Psalm, that he does not come before God with any idea of its being possible to succeed by dissimulation, as hypocrites will take advantage of secret refuges to prosecute sinful indulgences, but that he voluntarily lays bare his innermost heart for inspection, as one convinced of the impossibility of deceiving God. It is thine, he says, O God! to discover every secret thought, nor is there anything which can escape thy notice, He then insists upon particulars, to show that his whole life was known to God, who watched him in all his motions -- when he slept, when he arose, or when he walked abroad. The word r, rea, which we have rendered thought, signifies also a friend or companion, on which account some read -- thou knowest what is nearest me afar off, a meaning more to the point than any other, if it could be supported by example. The reference would then be very appropriately to the fact that the most distant objects are contemplated as near by God. Some for afar off read beforehand, in which signification the Hebrew word is elsewhere taken, as if he had said -- O Lord, every thought which I conceive in my heart is already known to thee beforehand. But I prefer the other meaning, That God is not confined to heaven, indulging in a state of repose, and indifferent to human concerns, according to the Epicurean idea, and that however far off we may be from him, he is never far off from us.

The verb zrh, zarah, means to winnow as well as to compass, so that we may very properly read the third verse -- thou winnowest my ways, [201] a figurative expression to denote the bringing of anything which is unknown to light. The reader is left to his own option, for the other rendering which I have adopted is also.appropriate. There has been also a difference of opinion amongst interpreters as to the last clause of the verse. The verb skn, sachan, in the Hiphil conjugation, as here, signifies to render successful, which has led some to think that David here thanks God for crowning his actions with success; but this is a sense which does not at all suit the scope of the Psalmist in the context, for he is not speaking of thanksgiving. Equally forced is the meaning given to the words by others -- Thou hast made me to get acquainted or accustomed with my ways; [202] as if he praised God for being endued with wisdom and counsel. Though the verb be in the Hiphil, I have therefore felt no hesitation in assigning it a neuter signification -- Lord, thou art accustomed to my ways, so that they are familiar to thee.

4. For there is not a word, etc. The words admit a double meaning. Accordingly some understand them to imply that God knows what, we are about to say before the words are formed on our tongue; others, that though we speak not a word, and try by silence to conceal our secret intentions, we cannot elude his notice. Either rendering amounts to the same thing, and it is of no consequence which we adopt. The idea meant to be conveyed is, that while the tongue is the index of thought to man, being the great medium of communication, God, who knows the heart, is independent of words. And use is made of the demonstrative particle lo! to indicate emphatically that the innermost recesses of our spirit stand present to his view.

In verse fifth some read -- behind and before thou hast fashioned me; [203] but tsvr, tsur, often signifies to shut up, and David, there can be no doubt, means that he was surrounded on every side, and so kept in sight by God, that he could not escape in any quarter. One who finds the way blocked up turns back; but David found himself hedged in behind as well as before. The other clause of the verse has the same meaning; for those put a very forced interpretation upon it who think that it refers to God's fashioning us, and applying his hand in the sense of an artizan to his work; nor does this suit with the context. And it is much better to understand it as asserting that God by his hand, laid as it were upon men, holds them strictly under his inspection, so that they cannot move a hair's breadth without his knowledge. [204]

6. Thy knowledge is wonderful above me Two meanings may be attached to mmny: mimmenni. We may read upon me, or, in relation to me, and understand David to mean that God's knowledge is seen to be wonderful in forming such a creature as man, who, to use an old saying', may be called a little world in himself; nor can we think without astonishment of the consummate artifice apparent in the structure of the human body, and of the excellent endowments with which the human soul is invested. But the context demands another interpretation; and we are to suppose that David, prosecuting the same idea upon which he had already insisted, exclaims against the folly of measuring God's knowledge by our own, when it rises prodigiously above us. Many when they hear God spoken of conceive of him as like unto themselves, and such presumption is most condemnable. Very commonly they will not allow his knowledge to be greater than what comes up to their own apprehensions of things. David, on the contrary, confesses it to be beyond his comprehension, virtually declaring that words could not express this truth of the absoluteness with which all things stand patent to the eye of God, this being a knowledge having' neither bound nor measure, so that he could only contemplate the extent of it with conscious imbecility.

Footnotes:

[200] "C'est par dessus moy et ma capacite." -- Fr. Marg. "That is, above me and my capacity."

[201] Piscator, Campensis, Pagninus, Luther, and our English Version, read "thou compassest." This no doubt gives the meaning, of the original, though not the precise idea, which is noticed on the margin of our English Bible to be "winnowest." The verb zrh, zarah, employed, signifies to disperse, to fan, to ventilate, to winnow; and here it denotes that as men separate the corn from the chaff, so God separates between, or investigates, the good and the bad in the daily conduct of men. Hence the Septuagint reads exichniasas, "thou hast investigated." Bishop Hare, who renders "thou dost compass," supposes it to be a metaphor taken from hunting. "Winnowing," says Archbishop Secker," would sound uncouth But Mudge hath hit on the word siftest, which, though an idea somewhat different, suits very well."

[202] "Fecisti assuescere vias meas." -- Lat.

[203] Thus the Septuagint have eplasas me, Thou hast formed me. Similar is the rendering of the Syriac. Those who embrace this view take the verb, as if the root were ytsr, yatsar. "But," says Phillips, "it is certain that the root of tsrtny must be tsvr, to afflict, press, besiege. Hence the meaning of the verse is, Thou hast so pressed upon, or besieged me, both behind and before, that I find there is no escaping from thee; Thou hast placed thy hand upon me, so that I am quite in thy power.' The whole passage is a figure, representing God's thorough knowledge of man." -- Phillips. "Thou besettest me behind and before, i.e. thou knowest all my doings as perfectly as if I were begirt by thee on every side." -- Cresswell.

[204] "Comme mettant la main sur eux pour los arrester par le collet, ainsi qu'on dit, tellement qu'ils ne peuvent bouger le moins du monde qu'il ne le scache." -- Fr.

Links

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The Being of God
Q-III: WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES PRINCIPALLY TEACH? A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. Q-IV: WHAT IS GOD? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here is, 1: Something implied. That there is a God. 2: Expressed. That he is a Spirit. 3: What kind of Spirit? I. Implied. That there is a God. The question, What is God? takes for granted that there …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Out of the Deep of Suffering and Sorrow.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.--Ps. lxix. 1, 2. I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.--Ps. xxxviii. 6. The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.--Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.--Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep