Psalms 139:1
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Study Note
Study Note
The opening line 'O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me' presents God's knowledge of the human person as complete, exhaustive, and prior to any self-disclosure — 'searched' (chaqar) being a judicial term for thorough examination. Psalm 139 is one of the Hebrew Bible's most sustained meditations on divine omniscience and omnipresence, exploring both the comfort (I cannot be lost from your presence) and the challenge (I cannot hide anything from you) of being fully known. The transition from the celebration of divine knowledge (verses 1-18) to the imprecatory section (verses 19-22) and then to the prayer for divine examination (verses 23-24) shows the psalm's complexity: being known by God leads ultimately to welcoming rather than fearing that knowledge. John 21:17 ('Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee') and Hebrews 4:13 ('all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do') are NT appropriations of this psalm's theology.
Other Translations
O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and knownme.
To the Overseer. --A Psalm by David. Jehovah, Thou hast searched me, and knowest.
O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.
Cross References
Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his …
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and …
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
But thou, O Lord, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like …
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth …
And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his …
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and …
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; …