For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
- KJV For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
- NKJV For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
- NASB ¶For You created my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
- NLT You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
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
God Himself formed the psalmist's innermost being and wove him together in the womb. It grounds human dignity and worth in God's personal creative work.
Overview
David traces his existence back not to chance but to God, who 'knit' him together with deliberate care. This affirms that life in the womb is God's intimate handiwork, a foundation for human dignity. The same God who forms each person also forms His people anew in Christ, the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jer 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- Ps 119:73Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
- Isa 44:2This is the word of the LORD, your Maker, who formed you from the womb and who will help you: “Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
- Job 31:15Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
- Job 10:9–12Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Ps 71:6I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always for You.
- Ps 22:9–10Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast.
- Isa 46:3“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.
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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 139:13 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.