Catholic Commentary on Psalm 139

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." (Psalm 139:13)

The Psalm of Divine Omniscience

Psalm 139 is one of the theological summits of the entire Psalter, a meditation on the omniscience, omnipresence, and creative intimacy of God that has no equal in the Old Testament. You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. The God of Psalm 139 is not a distant architect who set the world in motion and stepped back. He is the intimate knower of every movement, every thought, every word before it is on the tongue.

Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me. The omnipresence of God is not a threatening surveillance. It is the comfort of one who is always found wherever the soul goes, even to the depths. The verse most frequently cited in the Church's teaching on the sanctity of life is verse 13: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. The Catechism cites this as the foundation of the dignity of every human life from conception: every person is personally known and deliberately formed by God before any human eye has seen them (CCC 2270).

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, you were knit together in your mother's womb by the God who knows your every thought. You are not an accident of biology or a product of circumstance. You are the deliberate handiwork of the omniscient God who searched you before you existed and knew you before you were born. Live from that knowledge today.

Prayer

Lord God, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting and my rising, my thoughts from afar. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Search me and know my heart, try me and know my anxious thoughts, and lead me in the way everlasting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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

*139:13 139:13 Hebrew my kidneys

†139:17 139:17 Or How amazing are Your thoughts concerning me

‡139:20 139:20 Hebrew Your enemies take in vain or Your enemies bear up in vain; LXX Your enemies take Your cities in vain

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