For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
- BSB For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together 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 1:5Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
- Ps 119:73Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
- Isa 44:2Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
- Job 31:15Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
- Job 10:9–12Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
- Ps 71:6By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.
- Ps 22:9–10But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
- Isa 46:3Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
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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 139:13 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.