For they speak against You wickedly, and Your enemies take Your name in vain. Psalm 139:20 NASB Wickedly– What does it mean to speak against God wickedly? Hebrew poetry often employs parallelism in order to provide elaboration of one idea with another. In this verse, mezimmâ (from zāmam, “to plan, devise, consider”) is equated to taking YHVH’s name in vain. …
O that You would slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. Psalm 139:19 NASB Would slay– When you woke up this morning, did you think to yourself, “Oh, my, God has been so faithful to draw my life out of the past and return it to me today.” Perhaps you began with: Modeh ah-nee…
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:18 NASB Still– Yesterday we noticed a shift in the emotional direction of this poem. David’s initial concerns about the constraint of divine knowing have changed to praise for God’s revelation. We discovered that David considers God’s purpose intrinsically valuable. He…
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Psalm 139:17 NASB Vast– David is the poet who looked up to the heavens and declared, “What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” Nevertheless, David insists that God created Man…
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. Psalm 139:16 NASB Ordained– Does God know everything you will do before you are born, before you make a single choice? Does He know all men’s choices from eternity past? And…
My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Psalm 139:15 NASB In the depths of the earth– Did you think the Psalmist was writing about personal, human birth? Perhaps you even read it as God’s inspired statement about your birth. The Psalmist certainly is…
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14 A note: This went out yesterday. It wasn’t supposed to, but with plenty of time zones to traverse, I just got the day wrong. So here it is on the…
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13 NASB Formed– Did you read this as a statement about your creation? Did you imagine a parallel with Genesis 1 and 2? When we read “formed,” we probably think the poet is enlisting imagery from the initial creation of human beings. We think…
Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. Psalm 139:12 NASB Alike to You– Well, not exactly. You see, the Hebrew construction doesn’t actually contain the words “alike to You.” They have been added in order to parallel the opening phrase. The…
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Psalm 139:11 NASB If– Is it really hypothetical? Do we really only imagine a darkness that overwhelms? The translator, also a reader (see yesterday’s Today’s Word about the role of the reader), apparently reads this poem as a theological proclamation of God’s…
