O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
- KJV O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
- BSB For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- NASB Lord, You have searched me and known me.
- NLT O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
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
David acknowledges that Yahweh has searched him completely and knows him thoroughly.
Overview
This psalm opens by celebrating God's intimate knowledge of every person. David recognizes that the Lord has examined him fully and knows him through and through. This divine omniscience is both searching and comforting, for the God who knows us completely is the One who loves and redeems His people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Heb 4:13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Jer 12:3But you, Yahweh, know me; you see me, and try my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
- Jer 17:9–10The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?
- Ps 44:21won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
- Ps 17:3You have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night. You have tried me, and found nothing. I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.
- Ps 139:23Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
- 1 Chr 28:9You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
- 1 Kgs 8:39then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)
- Rev 2:23I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
- Ps 11:4–5Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
- John 21:17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
- Rev 2:18“To the angel of the assembly in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things:
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 139:1 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.