Psalm 139 With Commentary
Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Commentary
God knows the Psalmist in and out and understands him thoroughly. The Psalmist states the omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (present everywhere) power of God, in that God is able to know every thought of the Psalmist and notice him even in the depths of the world. The Psalmist cannot escape the watchful eye of God. The knowledge of this fact is soul-stirring for the Psalmist.
The Psalmist praises God's wonderful creation, including humans, and how mathematically consistent it is made. It is stressed in this Psalm that the Book of God already contains chapters about how the Psalmist's life will be. Everything is pre-ordained.
There is an invocation of prayer to God in this Psalm to slay the wicked. The Psalmist is aware that bad people on earth have mens rea (evil intent). These people even misuse the name of God to justify their wrong actions. The Psalmist cries out in solid emotion that he hates such people and considers them his enemy.
At the end of this Psalm, the Psalmist asks God to examine his thoughts as the Psalmist has led a righteous life and to guide him to grace.