Psalm 139

Please see License for Copyright notice and Licensing information.
[ Previous | Next ]

Psalm 139

1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, 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 beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

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

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

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

15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

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

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 2

<html>You understand how to attach me from afar You understand from afar [how] to attract me to Your friendship and to Your love. to attach me Heb. לרעי, to attach me to You.</html>

Verse 3

<html>My going about and my lying down You encompassed My way, my lying down, and my dwelling You have encompassed with a wall, for I can do nothing without Your knowledge. You encompassed heb. זרית, an expression of (Exod. 25:24): “a gold crown (זר).” Menachem associated it in this manner (p. 82). Our Sages, however, interpreted it (Nid. 31a, Mid. Ps. 139:3) as referring to the droplet of [semen, transmitted in] sexual intercourse, from whose choicest part the fetus is formed, and the meaning of זֵרִיתָ (זורה) is an expression of winnowing the grain to purify it of the refuse it contains. You are accustomed Heb. הִסכנתה, you are accustomed.</html>

Verse 5

<html>From the rear and the front My face and my back. Your pressure your coercion and your ruling, destroit in Old French.</html>

Verse 6

<html>Knowledge is hidden from me, etc. A place to escape from You is covered up and hidden from me. (I found this.)</html>

Verse 8

<html>and if I make my bed Heb. ואציעה, an expression of a spread (מצע) and a bed.</html>

Verse 9

<html>[If] I take up the wings of dawn If I take up for myself the wings of dawn, which shine at once from one end of the world to the other, so will I fly swiftly until I dwell at the end of the sea.</html>

Verse 11

<html>I said, “Darkness will darken me” If I said, “I will be hidden in the darkness, and the darkness will envelop me so that You will not see me.” יְשׁוּפֵנִי is an expression of נֶשֶׁף, evening. “and the night will be dark about me” Heb. אור, lit. light. And the night will darken before me. This אוֹר is an expression of darkness, like (Job 37:11): “he spreads his clouds of darkness (אור)”; similarly (below 148:3), “all stars of the night (אור)”; similarly (Exod. 14:20), “and it darkened (ויאר) the night.”</html>

Verse 12

<html>Even there I have no asylum, for no darkness will obscure [anything] from You. as darkness, so is the light Both are the same to You.</html>

Verse 13

<html>For You created my reins which think all my thoughts. You covered me Heb. תסכני, [equivalent to] תסוֹככני.</html>

Verse 15

<html>I was made in secret In sexual intercourse. in the lowest parts of the earth In the lowest compartment in my mother’s womb.</html>

Verse 16

<html>Your eyes saw my unformed body From the time that You created the world, Your eyes saw all the forms of the coming generations. My unformed body Heb. גלמי. My splendor and the pattern of my form, before I was born and before I came into the world, Your eyes saw. and on Your book they were all written And all the creatures of the world, like me, like them, even all of them, before they were created, were together revealed before You. days have been formed and one of them All man’s deeds and the end of the days are revealed before You as if they were already formed, although not one of them was in existence, and not one was yet in the world. These are the wonders of God’s works and the way of His might, that future events are revealed to Him before they come. And so, Scripture says (Jer. 1:5): “When I had not yet formed you in the womb, etc.” and on Your book, they were all written The book of the generations of man, which You showed to Adam. written lit. all of them will be written, like נכתבוּ. days were formed without one of them Ultimately, many days were destined to be created, but not one of them was yet created. According to the masoretic text, in which לא is written, this is its explanation. And according to the readingfor it is read לו this is its explanation: days have been formed—He showed the days that were destined to be created, and for His share, He chose one of them, viz. the Sabbath day. Another explanation: This is the Day of Atonement, for forgiveness.</html>

Verse 17

<html>And to me, how dear are Your friends The congregation of Israel says, “How esteemed in my eyes are the righteous in every generation!” How great is their sum! The calculation of their counting, an expression of (Exod. 30:12): “When you take the sum (ראש) of the children of Israel.”</html>

Verse 18

<html>I shall count them…than sand If I came to count the good of their deeds, they would be more numerous than sand. I have come to the end, and I am still with You Behold I have now come to the end of the generations that You allotted from then until today, and this generation is still with You and in fear of You, and I have not turned away from following You.</html>

Verse 19

<html>If only You would slay the wicked If only You would slay the wicked.</html>

Verse 20

<html>Who mention You with wicked thought They mention Your name regarding all the thoughts of their evil and call their deities with Your name. took it up Heb. נשוא, like נשאו, they took up. Your enemies…in vain Your enemies took up Your name in vain.</html>

Verse 24

<html>whether there is any vexatious way about me Whether there is a way of vexation and deterioration in me.</html>

ARC Wiki

Table of Contents

Psalm 139

Psalm 139

Notes

Cross Reference

Concordance

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 5

Verse 6

Verse 8

Verse 9

Verse 11

Verse 12

Verse 13

Verse 15

Verse 16

Verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 19

Verse 20

Verse 24