Bible Strands
Psalms 139:3
You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses God in a psalm of personal meditation, immediately following his statement that God knows when he sits and rises. The speaker stands in a moment of direct confrontation with divine presence.
The words — The Hebrew verb זֵרִיתָ (ze.Ri.ta) literally means "you sift," describing God's meticulous examination of the psalmist's path. The phrase הִסְכַּֽנְתָּה (his.Kan.tah) translates to "you know intimately," marking complete awareness of all his ways.
The thread — This pattern of God's exhaustive knowledge of human movement appears in Job 31:4, where God sees ways and counts steps, and aligns with Jeremiah 23:24's declaration that God fills heaven and earth to see all hiding places. The psalm's context in Psalms 139:2 and Psalms 139:4 frames this as a continuous observation of thought, posture, and speech.
Why it lands — The text requires acknowledgment that every movement and resting posture is fully exposed to divine scrutiny before any theological conclusions are drawn. It asks the reader to accept their complete transparency before God without adding devotional interpretation.
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
King James Version
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 23:24 “Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.
- Job 31:4 Does He not see my ways and count my every step?
- Genesis 28:10 Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.
- Proverbs 5:20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress, or embrace the bosom of a stranger?
- 2 Samuel 11:27 And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.
- 2 Samuel 12:9 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- Psalms 121:3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
- Psalms 139:18 If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
- Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
- Job 14:16 For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.