If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”
Parallel translations
- WEB If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night”;
- KJV If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
- BSB If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—
- NKJV If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;
- NLT I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even if David hoped darkness would hide him, it could not conceal him from God.
Overview
David considers whether darkness might overwhelm and hide him, but the thought collapses before God's presence. No shadow can shield anyone from the Lord. For the believer this means there is no place too dark for God's reach, for in Christ the light shines into every darkness and overcomes it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 12:22He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
- Jer 23:24Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says Yahweh. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says Yahweh.
- Ps 94:7They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
- Ps 10:11–13He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
- Job 22:12–14“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
- Isa 29:15Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 139:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.