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Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

Psalms 139:11

If I say] The text has,' and I said.' Cover] some, with slight change, render 'screen me,' and this is evidently the thought of the Psalmist. Even the night, etc.] RV 'and the light about me shall be night'—a parallel to previous clause.

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See also Psalms 139:11 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Psalms 139:11. _SURELY THE DARKNESS SHALL COVER ME_] Should I suppose that this would serve to screen me, immediately this _darkness_ is turned into _light_....

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    IF I SAY, SURELY THE DARKNESS SHALL COVER ME - If I seek to find refuge in the darkness of the night so that God would not see me. The word rendered “cover” - שׁוף _shûph_ - means properly to snap, t...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Psalms 139 In the Divine Presence _ 1. His omniscience (Psalms 139:1)_ 2. His omnipresence (Psalms 139:7) 3. Praising Him ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    CXXXIX. GOD IS EVERYWHERE: HE KNOWS EVERYTHING OH THAT HE WOULD DESTROY THE WICKED. This Ps. is among the most spiritual productions of the OT. It deals with the mystery of Divine providence, a theme...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    And if I say, Nay, but darkness might shroud me, And the light about me become night; Even darkness hideth not from thee, &c. It is as impossible to hide from God under cover of darkness as it is t...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    God is everywhere present: man cannot escape or hide himself....

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 734 THE OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE OF GOD Psalms 139:1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar of...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PSALMS 139 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE An Individual submits Himself to Jehovah's All-Searching Eye. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 139:1-6, Jehovah's Knowledge considered as Taking into View every Form of Human...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. IF I SAY, SURELY THE DARKNESS SHALL COVER ME; EVEN THE NIGHT SHALL BE LIGHT ABOUT ME. "Cover" - literally, brui...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Psalms 107:150 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING PSALMS 139 Jesus said, "Your Father (God) knows how many hairs there are on your head!" ...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    IF I SAY... — Rather, I say only let darkness crush me, And light become night around me. Commentators have mostly been frightened by the metaphor in the first line, though it has been preserved both...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וָ֭ אֹמַר אַךְ ־חֹ֣שֶׁךְ יְשׁוּפֵ֑נִי וְ֝ לַ֗

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Psalms 139:1 THIS 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 unequal...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE ALL-SEEING GOD Psalms 139:1 The psalmist speaks as if there were only two beings in the universe-God and himself. In all literature there is no nobler conception of the divine attributes. _ God'...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The conception of intimate personal relation between God and man is perhaps more remarkably and forcefully dealt with in this song than in any other in the whole collection. The great facts are first...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be (g) light about me. (g) Though darkness is a hinderance to man's sight, yet is serves your eyes as well as the light....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Fire of hell, (Worthington; Chaldean) as well as temporal afflictions, from lightning, &c., Psalm xvii. 9. (Haydock) --- Some have ridiculed the belief of hell. But the universality of this opinion i...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I would not make a chasm in the reading of these verses, because the latter of them, according to my view, throw a light upon the former. It may, no doubt, be truly said by David, and by every man lik...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    11._If I shall say, _etc. David represents himself as a man using every possible method to make his escape from a situation of embarrassment. So having acknowledged that it was vain to dream of flight...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Psalms 139 shows the complete exercise of heart that belongs to God's ways. Though the faithfulness of God perfects all His purposed blessing, not a thought escapes God. There is, morally speaking, no...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    IF I SAY, SURELY THE DARKNESS SHALL COVER ME,.... The darkness of a cloud or of the night, so that my actions shall not be seen; that is, if I entertain such a thought in my mind, that what I do in th...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Ver. 11. _The darkness shall cover me_] The Hebrew phrase is taken from beasts that lie a-squat, saith Diodati, _...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?_ From thy knowledge and observation; or, from thee who art a Spirit? _Whither shall I flee from thy presence?_ I can go nowhere but thou art there, observing and j...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    7-16 We cannot see God, but he can see us. The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord. Whither can I go? In the most distant corners of the world, in heaven, or in hell, I cannot go out of thy r...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    Shall be as clear and manifest to God as the light itself....

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 139:11 say H559 (H8799) darkness H2822 fall H7779 (H8799) night H3915 light H216 me H1157 S

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Psalms 139:11 I. There is the darkness of perplexity. If ever it be worth while to think over what have been our most unhappy moments, we shall find that they have been those when our mind was divided...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    May the all-seeing God, of whom this Psalm speaks, look down upon us and bless us richly while we read it! Psalms 139:1. _O LORD thou hast searched me, and known me._ «Known me perfectly, far better...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Psalms 139:1. _O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me._ God does not need to «search» us, for that implies a want of knowledge, a knowledge obtained by search. But the meaning of the text is, th...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Psalms 139:1. _O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me._ «Thou hast explored me, as men dig in mines, and make subterranean excavations. Thou hast searched into my secret parts, and known me.» P...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    In this Psalm, David praises God by specially dwelling upon the one attribute of omniscience. If we really wish to praise God, we must think of him as he is, and it is the best praise that we can rend...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    This is a Psalm we can never read too often. It will be to us one of the greatest safeguards against sin if we have its teaching constantly before our mind's eye, and the teaching of this Psalm is sim...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Meditation upon the doctrines of God's omniscience and omnipresence. CHARACTERS: God, David. CONCLUSION: The God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us and all the motions a...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    This psalm is entitled, a _psalm of David._ All the Versions agree with the Hebrew in this. It must be regarded as one of the sublimest representations of the Divinity, and particularly with regard to...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me._ GOD’S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN This lyric has always been the subject of praise. Aben Ezra said there was none like it in the five books. Lord Brough...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 139:1. The closing request of this hymn (“search me, O God, and know my heart”) echoes the opening statement. This highlights the psalm’s theme: God’s knowledge of his peopl...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 139:7 The next section makes it clear that there is no way the singer can escape such knowledge. There is nowhere in the universe that God will not be present to LEAD and HOLD the...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    INTRODUCTION “Nowhere,” says Perowne, “are the great attributes of God—His omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotence, set forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere is the...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION A song of praise to God for his omniscience, his omnipresence, and his marvelous powers, ending with a prayer for the destruction of the wicked, and for the purifying from evil of the psalm...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Psa 139:1-24, another psalm of David to the chief musician. As David offers this prayer really unto God, declaring, first of all, O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me (Psalms 139:1). Recogniz...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Isaiah 29:15; Jeremiah 23:24; Job 12:22; Job 22:12; Psalms 10:11;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THOU GOD SEEST ME _Selections from Psalms 139:1_ INTRODUCTORY WORDS The world today needs a new vision of the Deity of Christ. Our Lord Jesus has been dragged down from His place of authority and p...

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