O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
God knows you completely: when you sit, when you rise, what you are thinking.
Psalm 139
Psalm 139, headed as a psalm of David, is about being completely known by God: every thought, every road, every hiding place, even the time before birth. It contains the line “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” and ends with the prayer “Search me, O God”.
Psalm 139 · King James Version
1O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
14I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16Thine 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.
17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
There is nowhere you can go where God is not, and even there His hand will lead you.
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.
Every life is knit together by God: fearfully and wonderfully made.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
A prayer to hand your thoughts over: let God do the searching, so you can stop, and ask Him to lead you.
What Psalm 139 means
Psalm 139 has four movements. Verses 1-6: God knows me, my sitting down and rising up, my thoughts “afar off”, every word before I say it, and the writer can only answer, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me”. Verses 7-12: there is nowhere to go from God, not heaven, not the grave, not “the uttermost parts of the sea”, and not the dark, because “the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” Verses 13-18: God made me, before anyone saw me. Verses 19-24: a hard turn, and a closing prayer.
Being fully known can sound frightening, like being watched. The psalm hears it the other way. The God who knows everything lays His hand on the writer (verse 5) and leads him with His right hand even at the far edge of the world (verse 10). In verse 8 “hell” translates Sheol, the place of the dead: even there, “thou art there.” For anyone who feels unseen, or who is afraid of what God would think if He saw everything, the psalm’s answer is that He already sees, and He stays.
Verses 13-16 carry this back to the womb, where God knit the writer together, and verse 16 says God saw “my substance, yet being unperfect”, a body not yet formed, with everything written in His book before it took shape. These verses are read while waiting for a baby and at christenings; their first purpose is praise. Verse 18 closes the section tenderly: “when I awake, I am still with thee.”
Then come verses 19-22, which many readings skip: “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God”, and “I hate them with perfect hatred”. The writer counts God’s enemies as his own, and he is honest about his anger; Christians read these lines alongside Jesus’ command to love your enemies (Matthew 5:44). What he does next matters most. He hands that anger, and himself, back to God: “Search me, O God, and know my heart… see if there be any wicked way in me”. The psalm that began with God searching him ends with him asking to be searched, and led “in the way everlasting.”
People pray Psalm 139 when they feel invisible or unlovable, while expecting a child, at night when the dark feels heavy, and before confession or a fresh start. Some use verses 23-24 each evening to look back over the day with God.
A prayer
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, and You understand my thoughts from far away. Wherever I go, Your hand leads me and Your right hand holds me; even the darkness is not dark to You. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Search me, O God, and know my heart; see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen.
Related verses
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Said to Jeremiah at his calling, but it shows how God sees every life: known by Him before birth.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
You are God’s workmanship, made in Christ for good works He prepared ahead of time.
Questions people ask
What is Psalm 139 about?
About being fully known and never let go by God: He knows every thought, there is no place where He is absent, and He formed each person before birth.
Who wrote Psalm 139?
Its heading attributes it to David. Some scholars think its Hebrew points to a later date, but the attribution to David is ancient.
Why is it Psalm 138 in some Catholic Bibles?
Because some translations follow the numbering of the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. They join Psalms 9 and 10, and later 114 and 115, while splitting 116 and 147, so most psalms from 10 to 147 are numbered one lower. The text is the same psalm.
What does “fearfully and wonderfully made” mean?
Made in a way that inspires awe. Fearfully here means with reverence, not fright: the writer looks at his own life as a work of God and is amazed.
What is a short verse from Psalm 139?
Verse 14: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. Verse 23 is a short prayer many people learn by heart: “Search me, O God, and know my heart”.
Keep exploring
Bible Verses for a New BabyA new baby is one of life’s purest joys, and the Bible celebrates every child as known and…Bible Verses for BaptismBaptism marks a new life in Christ.Bible Verses for OverthinkingWhen your thoughts will not stop, the Bible does not tell you to empty your mind.Psalm 51Psalm 51 is the best-known prayer of repentance in the Bible.