Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Parallel translations
- WEB You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
- BSB You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- NKJV You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.
- NASB You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far away.
- NLT You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
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 knows David's every movement and discerns his thoughts even from afar.
Overview
God's knowledge extends to the most ordinary actions of sitting and rising and to the inmost thoughts of the heart. Nothing about David is hidden from Him. This complete awareness assures believers that the Lord understands them perfectly, a knowledge made gracious through the One who searches hearts and intercedes for His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Matt 9:4And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
- 2 Kgs 19:27But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
- Isa 37:28But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
- Luke 9:47And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,
- Ps 94:11The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
- John 2:24–25But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
- Prov 15:3The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
- Ps 56:8Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
- Zech 4:10For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
- 2 Kgs 6:12And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
- Gen 16:13And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
- 1 Cor 4:5Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
- Ezek 38:10–11Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
- Ezek 38:17Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 139:2 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.