Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary

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Psalms 139

1LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.

2You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, LORD, you know it altogether.

5You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.

6This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

7Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

8If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

9If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”

12even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

13For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

15My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

17How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!

18If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

19If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

20For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.

21LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?

22I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.

23Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

24See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Early Christian commentary

Late 1st century AD (traditionally c. 95–100) | Clement of Rome

Since then all things are seen and heard [by God], let us fear Him, and forsake those wicked works which proceed from evil desires; so that, through His mercy, we may be protected from the judgments to come. For whither can any of us flee from His mighty hand? Or what world will receive any of those who run away from Him? For the Scripture saith in a certain place, “Whither shall I go, and where shall I be hid from Thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there; if I go away even to the uttermost parts of the earth, there is Thy right hand; if I make my bed in the abyss, there is Thy Spirit.” Whither, then, shall any one go, or where shall he escape from Him who comprehends all things?

Commentary · First Epistle to the Corinthians, Chapter XXVIII · Original source · The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (T. & T. Clark, 1870), edited and translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson; independent electronic transcription: David King and the Online Proofreading Team, Project Gutenberg ebook 77576. · Licence · Source revision · Whitespace normalized; source pagination and footnote reference markers removed. English wording unchanged.

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