Psalm 139

To the leader. Of David. A Psalm

¹ O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
² You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
 you discern my thoughts from far away.
³ You search out my path and my lying down
 and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,
 O Lord, you know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in, behind and before,
 and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
 it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit?
 Or where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
 if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
⁹ If I take the wings of the morning
 and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand shall lead me,
 and your right hand shall hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
 and night wraps itself around me,”
¹² even the darkness is not dark to you;
 the night is as bright as the day,
 for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For it was you who formed my inward parts;
 you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
 Wonderful are your works;
 that I know very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,
 when I was being made in secret,
 intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
 In your book were written
 all the days that were formed for me,
 when none of them as yet existed.
¹⁷ How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
 How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
 I come to the end—I am still with you.

¹⁹ O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
 and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
²⁰ those who speak of you maliciously
 and lift themselves up against you for evil!
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
 And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with perfect hatred;
 I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
 test me and know my thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any wicked way in me,
 and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139 is a paradox. The first eighteen verses in poetic and beautiful imagery describe the psalmists experience of being fully known by God. The language of the final six verses describes the psalmist’s reaction to the jarring reality that there are many who oppose the ways of God. Many readers of this psalm are surprised at the sudden change from the sense of wonder and awe in the first three stanzas of the psalm to the imprecatory voice of the final stanza. Most readers may be familiar with the first eighteen verses while the final six will rarely appear in the worship of most churches. Some scholars feel that these verses were later added into the beautiful and comforting message of God’s full knowledge and encompassing of the speaker, but I feel the psalm makes sense as we have received it as I will share below.

A key word in this psalm is “known/knowledge” which occurs seven times (vv. 1-2, 4, 6, 14, 23 twice) and while the seven occurrences may be random, Hebrew poetry like to utilize numerical occurrence to make a point. Seven is traditionally a number of completeness. So, in addition to the thematic complete knowledge of God it may also be structurally reinforcing this message. (NIB IV: 1235) The verbs attributed to God including “know,” “search,” and “test” often appear in imagery when God is described as a judge, and this image of God is often used when one is calling on God for intervention or help. (Mays, 1994, pp. 426-427) Throughout the psalm the psalmist wrestles with the reality that they are known, searched, and tested completely by God and yet the wicked ones who resist God’s way still endure and God is called to judge these ones who the psalmist ‘hates’ (see below).

In the first stanza God knows the psalmist’s thoughts, words, and actions completely. Whether the psalmist is coming or going, waking or sleeping, standing or sitting, God knows their path, their thoughts, and even the words that have not left their mouth. They live their life surrounded by God’s presence and comforted by God’s touch. They respond in an appropriate sense of awe and wonder that the God who created the heavens and the earth can know them. The psalm is not interested in constructing a doctrine of omnipotence and omnipresence but instead deploys its language to try to express their wonder that God knows them, comforts them, is present with them and protects them.

The second stanza continues the wonder at God’s presence throughout the creation. The most surprising line of this stanza is that the psalmist includes God’s presence in Sheol, a place in other psalms where people are cut off from God’s hand (Psalm 88). Yet, for the psalmist even this place where God had been thought absent God is present. Heaven to Sheol, from the rising sun to the farthest edges of the sea, and even in the darkest night they are seen and known by God. There is nowhere in all creation, the heavens, the earth and under the earth, where they can escape God’s spirit or God’s sight. For the psalmist this is an awe-inspiring reality but primarily in a comforting rather than an ominous sense.

The third stanza turns the reflections to God’s deep involvement throughout the duration of their life. The beautiful language of God knitting the psalmist together in their mother’s womb, shaping and forming them for their life in God’s presence and protection. They wonder at their body and mind created by the hand of God and the days of their life are numbered according to God’s plan. The psalmist is less concerned with an idea or predestination than poetically describing the wonder at their life shaped by God’s hands and lived within God’s presence.

It may be a paradox, but for me the first three stanzas set up the final stanza. The psalmist looks upon God’s active presence in their own life and experience and then turns outward to the world where injustice and wickedness persist. The language does not seem to indicate that the psalmist is personally under threat or attack but instead seems to be broken-hearted by the ways in which others are treating God and God’s commandments. They are heartsick by the idolatry and injustice they see at work in the world and they call upon the God who is profoundly present throughout their life to extend that presence throughout the world and judge the wicked and those who oppose God’s ways. The language of ‘kill’ and ‘hate’ are jarring to our ears. The word translated ‘hate’ (Hebrew sane’) refers to an emotional aversion to something or someone. (Nancy deClaisse-Walford, 2014, p. 966) Throughout the psalms and wisdom literature in the bible the wicked pose a threat, leading astray others from following God’s way and threatening the peace of the society. The psalmist in their own way is calling on God for God’s will to be done on earth. The God who is present throughout the life of the psalmist and whose spirit is present throughout the world is asked to judge the earth and be as deeply involved throughout the creation as they perceive God being within their own life. Like the other psalms calling on God to judge an enemy, the enemy is committed into God’s hands. Yet the psalmist joins those throughout the generations calling upon God to establish God’s justice on earth and to heal the society from the damage done by the wicked, the bloodthirsty, those who speak maliciously, and who rise up against God.