# Psalm 139 📖: Searched and Known by God [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Psalm Overview]] | [[Psalm 138]] | [[Psalm 140]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) #### For the music director, a psalm of David. [[#Overall.]] [[#Verse 01.]] O Lord, you examine me and know me. [[Psalm 44|Psalm 44:21]] [[#Verse 02.]] You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. [[Psalm 94|Psalm 94:11]] [[#Verse 03.]] You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do. [[Job 14|Job14:6]] [[#Verse 04.]] Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. [[Hebrews 04|Hebrews 4:13]] [[#Verse 05.]] You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me. [[Psalm 34|Psalm 34:7]] [[#Verse 06.]] Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension; it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. [[Job 42|Job42:3]] | [[Romans 11|Romans 11:33]] [[#Verse 07.]] Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? [[Jeremiah 23|Jeremiah 23:24]] [[#Verse 08.]] If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. [[Proverbs 15|Proverbs 15:11]] | [[Amos 09|Amos 09:2-4]] [[#Verse 09.]] If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea, [[#Verse 10.]] even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me. [[Psalm 23|Psalm 23:2-3]] [[#Verse 11.]] If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,” [[Job 22|Job 22:13]] [[#Verse 12.]] even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to you. [[Job 34|Job 34:22]] | [[Daniel 02|Daniel 02:22]] | [[John 01|John 01:05]] [[#Verse 13.]] Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb. [[Psalm 119|Psalm 119:73]] [[#Verse 14.]] I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; [[#Verse 15.]] my bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth. [[Job 10|Job 10:8-10]] | [[Ecclesiastes 11|Ecc. 11:5]] [[#Verse 16.]] Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. [[Job 14|Job 14:5]] | [[Psalm 56|Psalm 56:8]] [[#Verse 17.]] How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total. [[Psalm 40|Psalm 40:5]] [[#Verse 18.]] If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with you. [[#Verse 19.]] If only you would kill the wicked, O God! Get away from me, you violent men! [[Isaiah 11|Isaiah 11:4]] [[#Verse 20.]] They rebel against you and act deceitfully; your enemies lie. [[Exodus 20|Ex 20:7]] | [[Deuteronomy 05|Deut. 5:11]] [[#Verse 21.]] O Lord, do I not hate those who hate you, and despise those who oppose you? [[#Verse 22.]] I absolutely hate them; they have become my enemies. [[#Verse 23.]] Examine me, O God, and probe my thoughts. Test me, and know my concerns. [[Psalm 26|Psalm 26:02]] [[#Verse 24.]] See if there is any idolatrous way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. [[Psalm 05|Psalm 5:8]] | [[Psalm 16|Ps 16:11]] | [[Psalm 143|Psalm 143:10]] ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. - Possibly later in life. It is part of the final collection of Psalms by David. He is likely asking God for specific vindication. - Verse 1-6- God's Omniscience. - Verse 7-12- God's Omnipresence. - Verse 13-22- God's Omnipotence and Omnibenevolence. - Verse 23-24- God's Mercy. - Verse 1 and the final verses are mirrors. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. - Rising up and sitting down- encompassing all of life. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. - God sees potential. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. - Not saying he is trying to run away. He is saying I cannot wander off. - God is not absent. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. - This is meant to be extremes of one another. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. - pro-life texts. [[Abortion]] - God is the Creator. Watches over us. ###### Verse 14. - Awe of God's handiwork. God is a master artist. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. - Loyalty to God. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. - David is saying he hates what they are doing because he knows God does. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. - Exploratory surgery. ###### Verse 24. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights - Toward the end of David's life. The final section of Davidic Psalms. 1. The heading attributes Psalm 139 to David and addresses it to the music director. 2. It is part of the last collection of Davidic psalms (Psalms 138 to 145). 3. The psalm opens and closes with God searching and knowing (139:1, 23), framing the whole psalm. 4. The word for "knit" or "wove" in 139:13 pictures a skilled weaver at work. 5. "The depths of the earth" (139:15) is a poetic picture of the hidden place of the womb. 6. God's book recording all David's days before one of them came to be (139:16) shows God's knowledge of our whole lives. 7. "The wings of the dawn" (139:9) points east, where the sun rises, and "the far side of the sea" points west to the Mediterranean. 8. Heaven and Sheol (139:8) are the highest and lowest places imaginable, and God is present in both. 9. Darkness and light are the same to God (139:12), so there is no hiding from Him. 10. Verses 19-22 turn to a prayer against the wicked, showing David's loyalty to God before he asks God to search his own heart. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary The benefits of God's Omniscience. - God knows every thought. - God directs us. - God knows no hopeless or helpless situations. - God constantly thinks of us. - God searches and purifies our hearts. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the Word through whom we were made (John 1:3), and He knows every human heart (John 2:24-25). Nothing is hidden from Him, and in Him we are fully known and fully loved (Hebrews 4:13-16). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application - 📌 Trust God's foreknowledge. - 📌 Find hope in God's direction. - 📌 Never wonder if God knows where we are. - 📌 Pre-born life is precious in God's sight. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God knows when we sit and when we rise and every word before we speak (139:1-4). Does God's complete knowledge of you bring you comfort, fear, or both? Why? 2. There is nowhere David could go to escape God's presence (139:7-12). How does God's presence encourage you when you feel far from Him? 3. God knit us together in the womb (139:13-16). How should this truth shape the way we value every human life, including the unborn? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 1-4: The Lord examines and knows me, even my words before I speak them. - 📖 verses 7-10: There is nowhere I can go to escape God's presence; His hand guides me everywhere. - 📖 verses 13-14: God formed me and knit me together in my mother's womb; I am awesomely and wonderfully made. - 📖 verses 23-24: Search me, God, test my thoughts, and lead me in the everlasting way. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Jeremiah 01#Verse 05.|Jeremiah 1:5]] - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 04#Verse 13.|Hebrews 4:13]] - Nothing in creation is hidden from God. - 🔗 [[John 01#Verse 03.|John 1:3]] - All things were made through the Word. - 🔗 [[Jeremiah 23#Verse 23.|Jeremiah 23:23-24]] - Do I not fill heaven and earth? - 🔗 [[Ephesians 02#Verse 10.|Ephesians 2:10]] - We are God's workmanship. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes