Psalms · 24 verses

Psalms 139

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

David names heaven, Sheol, dawn, and the farthest sea as possible hiding places, only to find the divine hand waiting at every address.

No hiding place, not even nightvv. 1–12

The LORD knows David from the outside in: sitting and rising, thoughts from afar, paths, lying down, and words before they reach the tongue. David then conducts a brisk survey of escape routes—heaven, Sheol, the wings of dawn, the farthest sea—and discovers that darkness itself is perfectly transparent to God.

Woven, counted, and still accompaniedvv. 13–18

The psalm turns from where David might go to how David came to be. His inmost being was formed and knitted in the womb; his unformed body was seen, and his days were written before one of them arrived. The thoughts of God then become too numerous for counting, while David wakes and finds the same divine presence still beside him.

The abrupt turn, and the final inspectionvv. 19–24

Then the psalm makes its startling lurch: David asks for the wicked to be slain, calls the bloodthirsty men God's enemies, and declares hatred with perfect neatness. Having set himself against them, he asks God to search him too—not merely for his enemies' faults, but for any offensive way in himself—and to lead him in the way everlasting.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Ps 139:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
Ps 139:2You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
Ps 139:3You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.
Ps 139:4Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.
Ps 139:5You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.
Ps 139:6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Ps 139:7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?
Ps 139:8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
Ps 139:9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,
Ps 139:10even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.
Ps 139:11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—
Ps 139:12even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.
Ps 139:13For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Ps 139:14I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.
Ps 139:15My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Ps 139:16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
Ps 139:17How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
Ps 139:18If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
Ps 139:19O God, that You would slay the wicked—away from me, you bloodthirsty men—
Ps 139:20who speak of You deceitfully; Your enemies take Your name in vain.
Ps 139:21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
Ps 139:22I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my enemies.
Ps 139:23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
Ps 139:24See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 198 passages were voted onto 24 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

23 Psalms 26:2Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
1 Hebrews 4:13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
13 Jeremiah 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
14 Genesis 1:26–27Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
14 Psalms 111:2Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
14 Psalms 104:24How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
23 Job 31:6let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.
23 1 Peter 1:7so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Jeremiah 12:3But You know me, O LORD; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter and set them apart for the day of carnage.
13 Psalms 119:73Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
13 Isaiah 44:2This is the word of the LORD, your Maker, who formed you from the womb and who will help you: “Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
23 Proverbs 17:3A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.
24 Psalms 143:10Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
14 Psalms 92:4–5For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
1 Jeremiah 17:9–10The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
10 Psalms 23:3He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.

Onward

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