I. (139:1–6) The Lord Knows All There Is to Know about Me. Verse 1 states the theme of the whole psalm (“you have searched me and known me”), and verses 2–6 develop that further as a general assertion: God knows all the singer’s activities, all his words, even his inmost thoughts. As in Deuteronomy 6:7, these activities offer examples of the whole range of life. Psalm 139:5 says, in all of life, “You hem me in . . . and lay your hand upon me.” Some commentators take these phrases in the sense of God’s judgment, but here they seem rather to convey his gentle care.769

The response (v. 6) is that “such knowledge” (on the Lord’s part; cf. vv. 1, 2, 4) is “too wonderful for” the singer (beyond his ability to comprehend; cf. discussion of “too marvelous,” in comment on 131:1–2). The force is this: “God has this knowledge; I do not, and he is therefore worthy of admiration and trust.”

II. (139:7–12) There Is No Place I Can Be Hidden from Your View. The next section makes it clear that there is no way the singer can escape such knowledge; there is nowhere in the universe in which God will not be present to “lead” or “hold” the faithful person (139:7–10) and nowhere too dark for God to see him (vv. 11–12).

Some have supposed that the impulse to “flee” (v. 7) comes from a guilty conscience or a desire for independence, but this is unlikely. These verses take delight in the fact that God will “lead” him, an entirely positive benefit (cf. 23:3; 73:24; 139:24; 143:10), and “hold” him (cf. 73:23). There is no place in which he is beyond God’s care (cf. comment on 139:1–6).

Verses 8–9 use two pairs of opposites: “heaven” and “Sheol,” and the “wings of the morning” (the farthest east, where the sun rises) and the “uttermost parts of the sea” (the far end of the Mediterranean, to the west of Israel). This rhetorical device, using two polar opposites, indicates that everything in between is included. It is an imaginative description; the song does not stop to address whether and how anyone in the singing congregation might physically go to these places.

Verses 11–12 draw on the orthodox notions about God as the Creator, who is over and above his creation and therefore not limited by it. Under such an understanding “darkness,” which would hinder human perception, cannot be a hindrance to God. Although the psalms are not doctrinal treatises, they certainly do rely on doctrines and turn them into song.

III. (139:13–16) You Even Saw and Loved Me before I Was Born. These verses connect to the end of the previous section (vv. 11–12) with the word “for,” which suggests that they illustrate the point. They describe a particular “dark place” where the Lord saw and cared for the singer: his “mother’s womb.” God was active while the “unformed substance” (a poetic term for what we would call the embryo) grew and developed; indeed, he is the one who “formed [his] inward parts” and “knitted [him] together.” God “saw” him and even had written in his book “the days that were formed for” him—even before those days came to pass! The worshiper realizes that even before his mother knew she was pregnant the Lord was already showing his care for him. His personal life began in the womb (cf. comment on 51:3–5 [at v. 5]), and God had already laid out its course.

Many versions and commentaries render the first line of 139:14 as “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (so ESV). By this reading the statement helps the worshiper to marvel over the mysterious process of a developing baby. The word translated “wonderfully made” (Hb. nipleti), however, has a slightly unusual spelling (the expected spelling is nipleʼti),770 and this favors the rendering “I am fearfully set apart” (cf. ESV mg.).771 This takes the word to be the term for God’s setting his people apart (cf. 4:3; Ex. 8:22) or making a distinction between them and those who are not his people (Ex. 9:4; 11:7; 33:16). The faithful person singing this, who in the OT would be the child of faithful parents, can affirm that God set his special love upon him from the earliest stages of his personal life (cf. Pss. 22:9–10; 71:5–6).

In 139:15 the person’s singing reflects on being “intricately woven in the depths of the earth.” Some have wondered what kind of view about child development lies behind this, but it is better simply to recognize that, as a parallel to “in secret,” this phrase gives a poetic expression for the darkness and secrecy of the womb.

IV. (139:17–18) How Precious Are Your Thoughts to Me! These verses provide the right response to the vast extent of God’s “thoughts” (which exceed the range of the singer’s “thoughts”; v. 2). Verse 18 seems to picture the hopelessness of trying to “count” God’s thoughts; the number is so large that one would fall asleep before getting to the end of them—and even so, God will not abandon his faithful (“I awake, and I am still with you”).

V. (139:19–22) Please Slay the Wicked! Sadly, not everyone delights in God or in his knowledge and presence; such is the “wicked” person, who joins with “men of blood,” those who ruthlessly shed blood, especially as a tool for oppression (sometimes rendered “bloodthirsty men”; cf. 2 Sam. 16:7–8; Pss. 5:6; 26:9; 55:23; 59:2; Prov. 29:10). Such people speak against God “with malicious intent”; they actively oppose God and his gracious purpose (cf. comment on 1:1–2). When God displays his justice in the earth, he will indeed “slay” these people if they will not repent; until then the faithful do not want to be identified with them (“depart from me,” 139:19; cf. comment on 104:31–35 [at v. 35]).772 This loyalty to God goes as far as to own God’s attitudes (5:5; 11:7; cf. comments on 31:3–8; 119:113–120; cf. also 26:5; 101:3).773

VI. (139:23–24) Search Me, O God! In view of these reflections the members of the congregation invite God to continue his work of “searching” and “knowing” their hearts; the words in verse 23 look back to those of verse 1. The Lord’s searching will expose any “grievous way” (best understood as aspects of character that lead to grief, whether grief that comes to the unfaithful, as in 16:4, or that which comes to God, as in Gen. 6:6) and will lead the faithful “in the way everlasting” (the way that God loves; cf. Ps. 1:6). Here we have the contrast of the two ways and the prayer to be faithful in the way of faith.