Psalm 139:6 NIV

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Psalms 139:6

Psalms 139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, &c. It is such a knowledge as I cannot comprehend, much less describe. I cannot conceive, or even form any idea in what manner thou dost so perfectly know all things, especially things which have yet no being, and seem to depend on many casualties and uncertainties. Dr. Hammond renders the verse, Such knowledge is admirable, above me: it is high; I cannot deal with it. But the sense of the original of the last clause, לא אוכל לה ,... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

Psalms 139:0 The all-knowing, ever-present GodGod knows all about the psalmist - what he does, what he thinks, where he goes and what he says (139:1-4). Because of the realization that God is all around him, the psalmist sometimes feels helpless (5-6). A person may be tempted to look for some escape from such an overpowering presence, but no escape is possible. This may bring fear to rebels but it brings comfort to believers (7-8). Wherever they travel, God is with them (9-10). In darkness or... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Psalms 139:6

Psalms 139:6. Such knowledge is too wonderful, &c.— Grotius supposes the meaning to be, "Thy knowledge, or rather, thy omniscience, is so great, that it is impossible to escape or fly from it." Mr. Mann thinks that the 6th verse should be rendered thus: Wonderful is thy knowledge, and elevated above me; I cannot prevail against it: From hence, says he, the Psalmist pursues the thought of God's omnipresence; Whither shall I go, &c. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 139:1-6

1. God’s omniscience 139:1-6 read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 139:1-24

Psalms 139David praised God for His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence in this popular psalm. It is a plea for God to search the life to expose sin. It consists of four strophes of six verses each."The Gelineau version gives the psalm the heading ’The Hound of Heaven’, a reminder that Francis Thompson’s fine poem of that name owed its theme of flight and pursuit largely to the second stanza here (Psalms 139:7-12), which is one of the summits of Old Testament poetry." [Note: Kidner,... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 139:5-6

David responded to his own reflection by expressing the thought that God was confining him. This is often our initial reaction to God’s omniscience. The writer also felt out of control in the presence of such vast knowledge. "Wonderful" is at the beginning of the sentence in the Hebrew text, which is the emphatic position. This word means extraordinary or surpassing (cf. Psalms 9:1). Yahweh’s omniscience is too amazing for humans to comprehend. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:1-24

One of the very greatest of the Pss. No grander tribute has ever been paid to the omniscience and omnipresence of God. The Ps. is ascribed to David, but the Hebrew is decisive in favour of a date very long after David, being marked by Aramaisms.1-6. God’s omniscience. 7-12. God’s omnipresence. 13-18. God’s wonderful providence in human life. 19-22. God’s hatred of sin. 23, 24. A prayer that the Psalmist may be cleansed from all evil.3. Compassest] RM ’winnowest,’ i.e. scrutinisest. 5. Beset]... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 139:6

(6) Such . . .—God’s omniscience is for man at once transcendent, unattainable, impossible. Possibly the article has dropped away, and we should read this knowledge. LXX. and Vulg. have “thy knowledge.”For the thought comp. Psalms 139:17-18, and Romans 11:33. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Psalms 139:1-24

The Searching of God Psalms 139:1 We are prone to associate the searching-work of God with events of a striking or memorable kind. It is in great calamities and overwhelming sorrow that we feel with peculiar vividness God's presence. When Job was in the enjoyment of prosperity he was an eminently reverent man; but it was in the hour of his black and bitter midnight that he cried out, 'The hand of God hath touched me'. And that same spirit lodges in every breast, so that God's searching comes... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

Psalms 139:1-24THIS is the noblest utterance in the Psalter of pure contemplative theism, animated and not crushed by the thought of God’s omniscience and omnipresence. No less striking than the unequalled force and sublimity with which the psalm hymns the majestic attributes of an all-filling, all-knowing, all-creating God, is the firmness with which the singer’s personal relation to that God is grasped. Only in the last verses is there reference to other men. In the earlier parts of the... read more

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Psalms 139:6

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Psalms 139:6

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 139:1-6

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 139:1-24

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Psalms 139:5-6

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Psalms 139:1-24

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Psalms 139:6

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Psalms 139:1-24

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Psalms 139:1-24

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