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Psalms 139

Psalms 139 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Psalm 139 is a prayer of deep trust and honest self-examination. David says that God knows every thought, every step, and every word before it is spoken. The psalm moves from comfort in God's nearness to a plea for God to search the heart and lead the faithful path.

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What happens in Psalms 139?

This psalm begins with confidence that God fully knows the singer's life, thoughts, routines, and speech. It then asks where anyone could go to escape God's presence, only to answer that God is present everywhere, even in darkness and the realm of death. The psalm also celebrates God's care in forming a person from the beginning and ordaining the days of life. It closes with a strong concern for God's honor, a rejection of wickedness, and a humble request for God to search the heart and guide the worshiper in the right way.

Psalm 139 is one of David's psalms in the middle of the Psalms collection, where praise, lament, and prayer often overlap. It stands among passages that speak personally about God as creator, judge, and guide. Here the focus is less on public worship and more on the believer's inner life before God.

Themes to notice

  • God's full knowledgeGod sees every thought, word, and action with complete clarity.
  • God's constant presenceNo place is outside God's reach, comfort, or rule.
  • Heart search and guidanceThe psalm ends by asking God to expose sin and lead in the lasting way.

Questions for Psalms 139

  • What does this psalm teach about God's knowledge of a person's daily life and thoughts?
  • How does the psalm describe God's presence in both light and darkness?
  • Why does the psalm end with a request for God to search the heart and lead the way everlasting?

Read the full text of Psalms 139 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Psalms 139

You Have Searched Me and Known Me

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1O LORD, You have searched me

and known me.

2You know when I sit and when I rise;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

3You search out my path and my lying down;

You are aware of all my ways.

4Even before a word is on my tongue,

You know all about it, O LORD.

5You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?

Where can I flee from Your presence?

8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

9If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle by the farthest sea,

10even there Your hand will guide me;

Your right hand will hold me fast.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,

and the light become night around me”—

12even the darkness is not dark to You,

but the night shines like the day,

for darkness is as light to You.

13For You formed my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

15My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,

when I was woven together

in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be.

17How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God,

how vast is their sum!

18If I were to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

and when I awake,

I am still with You.

19O God, that You would slay the wicked—

away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

20who speak of You deceitfully;

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD,

and detest those who rise against You?

22I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them as my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.

24See if there is any offensive way in me;

lead me in the way everlasting.

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