E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Psalms 139:4
altogether = on every side, or, the whole of it. read more
Psalm-139:4
E.W. Bullinger
Thomas Coke
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Psalms 139:4
Psalms 139:4. For there is not a word— Or, When there is not a word in my tongue, O Lord, thou knowest all. But Mudge renders it, For, before the word is in my tongue, behold, O Lord, thou knowest the whole of it; i.e. "Thou knowest the whole matter of what I am going to say, before the word is formed upon my tongue." 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 139:2-4
The psalmist employed a figure of speech (merism) to express completeness (Psalms 139:2). In merisms, the opposites named represent everything in between them. God knew every move David made. Furthermore, He understood his motives as well as his actions. "Afar" probably refers to time rather than space. The "Thou" or "You" is emphatic in the Hebrew text. God also knew David’s daily activities (Psalms 139:3). This is another merism with going out and lying down representing a whole day’s... 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 139:4
(4) For there is not . . .—This has been understood in two ways:—My tongue cannot utter a word which thou dost not altogether know.or,Before my tongue can utter a word thou knowest it altogether. 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
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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