Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Parallel translations
- WEB Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
- KJV Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
- BSB Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
- NKJV Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
- NASB ¶Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts;
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 invites God to search and know his heart and thoughts. It is a prayer of humble openness to divine examination.
Overview
Having spoken boldly against the wicked, David turns the searchlight on himself, asking the all-knowing God to test his own heart. This guards against self-righteousness and shows that zeal for God must begin with self-scrutiny. Such openness anticipates the gospel work of the Spirit, who convicts and cleanses those united to Christ (Psalm 51:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 26:2Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.
- 1 Pet 1:7that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ —
- Job 31:6(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);
- Prov 17:3The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts.
- Deut 8:2You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not.
- Ps 139:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
- Zech 13:9I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”
- Jer 11:20But, Yahweh of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I shall see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause.
- Mal 3:2–3“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;
- Deut 8:16who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 139:23 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.