Psalms 139:14

I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The psalmist addresses YHWH directly, in the middle of a passage (vv. 13–15) tracing God's knowledge of him from conception onward. The moment is personal acknowledgment of one's own origin as God's work.

The words — נִפְלֵיתִי (nif.lei.ti), Niphal of נפלא, literally "I am made wonderful"; the BSB's "fearfully" is not a separate Hebrew word here. נוֹרָאוֹת (no.ra.'ot, "awesome") modifies מַעֲשֶׂיךָ ("Your works"), not the speaker.

The thread — The same logic appears in Psalms 111:2 ("Great are the works of the LORD") and Psalms 104:24 ("How many are Your works... in wisdom You have made them all"), and the underlying claim of intentional human formation echoes Genesis 1:26.

Why it lands — It places the reader's own existence under the category of deliberate craftsmanship rather than accident, and asks for a response of thanksgiving rather than mere admiration.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אֽוֹדְךָ֗'od./KhaI will give thanks to/ you עַ֤ל'alon כִּ֥יkifor נוֹרָא֗וֹתno.ra.'otawesome נִ֫פְלֵ֥יתִיnif.Lei.tiI am wonderful נִפְלָאִ֥יםnif.la.'Im[are] wonderful מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָma.'a.Sei./khaworks/ your וְ֝נַפְשִׁ֗יve./naf.Sh/iand/ self/ my יֹדַ֥עַתyo.Da.'at[is] knowing מְאֹֽד׃me.'Odexceedingly

King James Version

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Cross-references

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Psalms 111:2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Psalms 104:24 How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
Psalms 92:4 For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
Psalms 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
Job 5:9 the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
Revelation 15:3 and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!