Psalm 139:13-18 KJV

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

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:13

Verse 13 13.For thou hast possessed my reins Apparently he prosecutes the same subject, though he carries it out somewhat farther, declaring that we need not be surprised at God’s knowledge of the most secret thoughts of men, since he formed their hearts and their reins. He thus represents God as sitting king in the very reins of man, as the center of his jurisdiction, and shows it ought to be no ground of wonder that all the windings and recesses of our hearts are known to him who, when we... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:15

Verse 15 15.My strength was not hid from thee That nothing is hid from God David now begins to prove from the way in which man is at first formed, and points out God’s superiority to other artificers in this, that while they must have their work set before their eyes before they can form it, he fashioned us in our mother’s womb. It is of little importance whether we read my strength or my bone, though I prefer the latter reading. He next likens the womb of the mother to the lowest caverns or... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:16

Verse 16 16.Thine eyes beheld my shapelessness, etc. The embryo, when first conceived in the womb, has no form; and David speaks of God’s having known him when he was yet a shapeless mass, τὸ κύημα , as the Greeks term it; for τὸ εμβρυον is the name given to the foetus from the time of conception to birth inclusive. The argument is from the greater’ to the less. If he was known to God before he had grown to certain definite shape, much less could he now elude his observation. He adds, that all... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:17

Verse 17 17.How precious also are thy thoughts unto me It is the same Hebrew word, רעה, reah, which is used here as in the second verse, and means thought, not companion or friend, as many have rendered it, after the Chaldee translator, under the idea that the Psalmist is already condescending upon the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. The context requires that he should still be considered as speaking of the matchless excellence of divine providence. He therefore repeats — and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

Lord, thou knowest altogether. This psalm, one of the most sublime of them all, is of unknown authorship. It seems to be the composition of some saint of God who lived after the Captivity. If so , what proof it gives of the blessing of sanctified sorrow (cf. the probably companion psalm, Psalms 119:1-176 ; Psalms 119:67 , Psalms 119:71 , Psalms 119:75 )! The furnace of the Exile, the husks of the far country, did bring prodigal Israel to himself; and this psalm is one clear... read more

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

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:13

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:15

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:16

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:17

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

The Pulpit Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

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