Psalms 139:5

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
beset	צַרְתָּ֑נִי tzar.Ta.ni	H6696	to cramp · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
behind	אָח֣וֹר 'a.Chor	H268	the hinder part · noun, common masculine singular absolute
before	וָקֶ֣דֶם va.Ke.dem	H6924	the front · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
laid	וַתָּ֖שֶׁת va.Ta.shet	H7896	to place (in a very wide application) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
hand	כַּפֶּֽכָה ka.Pe.khah	H3709	the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, D…
Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Job 23:8-9 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
Exodus 24:11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Job 9:33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 139:1-6

David here lays down this great doctrine, That the God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us, and that all the motions and actions both of our inward and of our outward man are naked and open before him. I. He lays down this doctrine in the way of an address to God; he says it to him, acknowledging it to him, and giving him the glory of it. Divine truths look fully as well when they are prayed over as when they are preached over, and much better than when they are disputed over. When we speak of God to him himself we shall find ourselves concerned to speak with the utmost degree both of sincerity and reverence, which will be likely to make the impressions the deeper. II. He l…

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John Gill on Psalms 139:5

Thou hast beset me behind and before,.... Art on every side of me, all around me, like one besieged in a strait place; so that there is nothing I can think, say, or do, but what is known unto thee. The two Kimchis, father and son, render the word, "thou hast formed me": and interpret it of the formation of his body, of which, in Psalm 139:14; see Job 10:8 but it denotes how God compasses men with his presence and providence, so that nothing escapes his knowledge; and laid thine hand upon me; not his afflicting hand, which sometimes presses hard; though the Targum thus paraphrases it, "and stirred against me the stroke of thine hand:'' but rather his hand of power and providence, to preser…

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John Calvin on Psalms 139:1-6

Psalm 139:1-6 1. O Jehovah! thou hast searched me, and knowest me. 2. Thou hast known my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3. Thou besiegest my path, and my lying clown, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo! O Lord! Thou knowest it altogether. 5. Thou hast shut me up behind and before, and hast laid thine hand upon me. 6. Thy knowledge is wonderful above me: [200] it is high, I cannot attain to it. 1. O Jehovah! thou hast searched me David declares, in the outset of this Psalm, that he does not come before God with any idea of its being possible to succeed by dissimulation, as hypocrites will take advantag…

The Church Fathers

"Behold Thou, Lord, hast known all my last doings, and the ancient ones" [Psalm 139:5]. You have known my latest doings, when I fed swine; You have known my ancient doings, when I asked of You my portion of goods. Ancient doings were the beginnings to me of latest ills: ancient sin, when we fell; latest punishment, when we came into this toilsome and dangerous mortality. And would that this may be "latest" to us; it will be, if now we will to return. For there is another "latest" for certain wicked ones, to whom it shall be said, "Go ye into everlasting fire." [Matthew 25:41] ..."You have fashioned me, and hast laid Your hand upon me." "Fashioned me," where? In this mortality; now, to the toils whereunto we all are born. For none is born, but God has fashioned him in his mother's womb; nor is there any creature, whereof God is not the Fashioner. But "You have fashioned me" in this toil, "and laid Your hand upon me," Your avenging hand, putting down the proud. For thus healthfully has He cast down the proud, that He may lift him up humble.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 139

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
God · Is declared to be: Omniscient — Is declared to be: Omniscient
Providence Of God, The · Is all pervading — Is all pervading
Sieges · Illustrative Of: The omnipresence of God — Illustrative Of: The omnipresence of God

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 139:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 139:1-6

John Gill on Psalms 139:5

John Calvin on Psalms 139:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 139:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 139:1-6

John Gill on Psalms 139:5

John Calvin on Psalms 139:1-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 139:1-7

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 139:3-6

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 139:5