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Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Psalms 139:3 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
  • BSB You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.
  • NKJV You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
  • NASB You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
  • NLT You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.

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 observes all of David's paths and is intimately familiar with everything he does.

Overview

Whether David travels or rests, God is acquainted with all his ways. The Lord's attentive knowledge surrounds every part of his life. Such constant awareness reminds believers that they live always before the eyes of God, who in Christ knows and cares for them in every circumstance.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Jer 23:24Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
  • Job 31:4Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
  • Gen 28:10–17And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
  • Prov 5:20–21And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
  • Eccl 12:14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
  • 2 Sam 11:27And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
  • Ps 139:18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
  • Ps 121:3–8He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
  • 2 Sam 12:9–12Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
  • Job 14:16–17For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
  • John 6:70–71Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?
  • Isa 29:15Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
  • Acts 5:3–4But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
  • John 13:2And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;
  • John 13:21When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
  • 2 Sam 11:2–5And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
  • 2 Sam 8:14And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.
  • Matt 3:12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
  • Job 13:26–27For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 139:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 139:3 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.