If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
Parallel translations
- WEB If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
- KJV If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
- NKJV If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
- NASB If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
- NLT If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.
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
Whether in heaven or in Sheol, God is present everywhere David could go.
Overview
David affirms that no realm, however high or low, lies outside God's presence. Even in the depths of death God is there. This truth assures believers that nothing, not even death itself, can separate them from the God who in Christ has conquered the grave.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Amos 9:2–4Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.
- Jonah 2:2saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
- Job 34:21–22For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.
- Prov 15:11Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts of men!
- Obad 1:4Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
- Job 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- Ezek 28:12–17“Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 139:8 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.