Psalm 139:11–18

The NET BibleOther versions

English

Arabic

Arabic Bible (Smith & Van Dyke)

Czech

Podle Puvodního Vydání Kralického

French

German

Hebrew

LHB Lexham Hebrew Bible

Hungarian

KAR Szent Biblia

Italian

Giovanni Diodati Bibbia

Korean

KRV 성경전서 개역한글판

Latin

VGCLEM Clementine Vulgate

Portuguese

Russian

RST Русский Синодальный Перевод (1876/1956)

Simplified Chinese

中文圣经和合本－神版 (简体)

Spanish

Traditional Chinese

中文聖經和合本（神版．繁體）

^139:11If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me,¹³

and the light will turn to night all around me,”¹⁴

^139:12even the darkness is not too dark for you to see,¹⁵

and the night is as bright as¹⁶ day;

darkness and light are the same to you.¹⁷

^139:13Certainly¹⁸ you made my mind and heart;¹⁹

you wove me together²⁰ in my mother’s womb.

^139:14I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.²¹

You knew me thoroughly;²²

^139:15my bones were not hidden from you,

when²³ I was made in secret

and sewed together in the depths of the earth.²⁴

^139:16Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.²⁵

All the days ordained for me

were recorded in your scroll

before one of them came into existence.²⁶

^139:17How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!²⁷

How vast is their sum total!²⁸

^139:18If I tried to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

Even if I finished counting them,

I would still have to contend with you.²⁹

Read in Logos

Psalm 139:13: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

Footnotes

13 The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (), . Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
14 Heb “and night, light, around me.”
15 The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
16 Heb “shines like.”
17 Heb “like darkness, like light.”
18 Or “for.”
19 Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (, ); “inward parts” (, ); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).
20 The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.
21 Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (pala’) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (pala’; see §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 [], , ). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נפלאים, the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (nifla’ot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).
22 Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yoda’at), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yada’ta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (), .
23 The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) should probably be emended to כֲּאַשֶׁר (ka’asher, “when”). The kaf (ך) may have been lost by haplography (note the kaf at the end of the preceding form).
24 The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 96–97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.
25 Heb “Your eyes saw my shapeless form.” The Hebrew noun גֹּלֶם (golem) occurs only here in the OT. In later Hebrew the word refers to “a lump, a shapeless or lifeless substance,” and to “unfinished matter, a vessel wanting finishing” ( 222 גּוֹלֶם). The translation employs the dynamic rendering “when I was inside the womb” to clarify that the speaker was still in his mother’s womb at the time he was “seen” by God.
26 Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there).
27 Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1–6, 17b–18).
28 Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.
29 Heb “I awake and I [am] still with you.” A reference to the psalmist awaking from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually. For this reason some propose an emendation to הֲקִצּוֹתִי (haqitsoti), a Hiphil perfect form from an otherwise unattested verb קָצַץ (qatsats) understood as a denominative of קֵץ (qets, “end”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (), .

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place,

when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

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

and the light around me will be night”—

even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night shines like the day;

darkness and light are alike to you.

For it was you who created my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will praise you

because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.

Your works are wondrous,

and I know this very well.

My bones were not hidden from you

when I was made in secret,

when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw me when I was formless;

all my days were written in your book and planned

before a single one of them began.

God, how precious your thoughts are to me;

how vast their sum is!

If I counted them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

when I wake up, I am still with you.

NLTNew Living Translation

I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,

and the light around me will be as night,”

even the darkness is not too dark for you,

and the night shines as the day—

the darkness and the light are alike for you.

Indeed you created my inward parts;

you wove me in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works,

and my soul knows it well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was created secretly,

and intricately woven

in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my embryo,

and in your book they all were written—

days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.

And to me, how precious are your thoughts, O God;

how vast is their sum.

If I should count them,

they would outnumber the sand.

I awaken, and I am still with you.

KJV 1900King James Version

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;

Even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;

But the night shineth as the day:

The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

For thou hast possessed my reins:

Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:

Marvellous are thy works;

And that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee,

When I was made in secret,

And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

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.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:

When I awake, I am still with thee.

Public Domain