Bible Strands
Psalms 139:6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God immediately after describing how divine presence has hemmed him in behind and before. He concludes this meditation on omnipresence by acknowledging his own limitation in comprehending God’s mind.
The words — The verse centers on דַ֣עַת (Da'at), meaning knowledge, and נִ֝שְׂגְּבָ֗ה (nisgeVah), meaning it is set on high or lofty. Combined with פְּלִ֣יאָֽה (pil'iyah), wonderful, the phrasing declares that this knowledge stands beyond human reach.
The thread — The same recognition of divine unsearchability appears in Job 11:7, which questions whether humans can discover the limits of the Almighty. Job 42:3 records God rebuking speech without understanding, and Romans 11:33 explicitly calls God’s judgments unsearchable and His ways untraceable.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to admit the boundary of human comprehension before divine omniscience. It demands acceptance that God’s knowledge cannot be grasped or surpassed by human effort.
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
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Cross-references
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Job 42:3 You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
- Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Job 26:14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- 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.
- Proverbs 30:2 Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man.
- Psalms 13:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?