Psalm 139:8-24 NIV

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:11

Surely the darkness shall cover me - Should I suppose that this would serve to screen me, immediately this darkness is turned into light. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:12

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee - Darkness and light, ignorance and knowledge, are things that stand in relation to us; God sees equally in darkness as in light; and knows as perfectly, however man is enveloped in ignorance, as if all were intellectual brightness. What is to us hidden by darkness, or unknown through ignorance, is perfectly seen and known by God; because he is all sight, all hearing, all feeling, all soul, all spirit - all in All, and infinite in himself. He lends to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:13

Thou hast possessed my reins - As the Hebrews believed that the reins were the first part of the human fetus that is formed, it may here mean, thou hast laid the foundation of my being. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:14

I am fearfully and wonderfully made - The texture of the human body is the most complicated and curious that can be conceived. It is, indeed, wonderfully made; and it is withal so exquisitely nice and delicate, that the slightest accident may impair or destroy in a moment some of those parts essentially necessary to the continuance of life; therefore, we are fearfully made. And God has done so to show us our frailty, that we should walk with death, keeping life in view; and feel the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:15

My substance was not hid from thee - עצמי atsmi , my bones or skeleton. Curiously wrought - רקמתי rukkamti , embroidered, made of needlework. These two words, says Bishop Horsley, describe the two principal parts of which the human body is composed; the bony skeleton, the foundation of the whole; and the external covering of muscular flesh, tendons, veins, arteries, nerves, and skin; a curious web of fibres. On this passage Bishop Lowth has some excellent observations: "In that... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:16

Thine eyes did see my substance - גלמי golmi , my embryo state - my yet indistinct mass, when all was wrapped up together, before it was gradually unfolded into the lineaments of man. "Some think," says Dr. Dodd, "that the allusion to embroidery is still carried on. As the embroiderer has still his work, pattern, or carton, before him, to which he always recurs; so, by a method as exact, revere all my members in continuance fashioned, i.e., from the rude embryo or mass they daily... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:17

How precious also are thy thoughts - רעיך reeycha , thy cogitations; a Chaldaism, as before. How great is the sum of them! - ראשיהם עצמו מה mah atsemu rasheyhem ; How strongly rational are the heads or principal subjects of them! But the word may apply to the bones, עצמות atsamoth , the structure and uses of which are most curious and important. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:18

If I should count them - I should be glad to enumerate so many interesting particulars: but they are beyond calculation. When I awake - Thou art my Governor and Protector night and day. I am still with thee - All my steps in life are ordered by thee: I cannot go out of thy presence; I am ever under the influence of thy Spirit. The subject, from the Psalm 139:14 ; to the Psalm 139:16 ; inclusive, might have been much more particularly illustrated, but we are taught, by the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:19

Surely thou wilt slay the wicked - The remaining part of this Psalm has no visible connection with the preceding. I rather think it a fragment, or a part of some other Psalm. Ye bloody men - דמים אנשי anshey damim , men of blood, men guilty of death. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:20

Thine enemies take thy name in vain - Bishop Horsley translates the whole verse thus: - "They have deserted me who are disobedient to thee; "They who are sworn to a rash purpose - thy refractory adversaries." The original is obscure: but I cannot see these things in it. Some translate the Hebrew thus: "Those who oppose thee iniquitously seize unjustly upon thy cities;" and so almost all the Versions. The words, thus translated, may apply to Sanballat, Tobiah, and the other enemies of... read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:11

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:12

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:13

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:14

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:15

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:16

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:17

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:18

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:19

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:20

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