
Text -- Psalms 139:11 (NET)




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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Clarke -> Psa 139:11
Clarke: Psa 139:11 - -- Surely the darkness shall cover me - Should I suppose that this would serve to screen me, immediately this darkness is turned into light.
Surely the darkness shall cover me - Should I suppose that this would serve to screen me, immediately this darkness is turned into light.
Calvin -> Psa 139:11
Calvin: Psa 139:11 - -- 11.If I shall say, etc. David represents himself as a man using every possible method to make his escape from a situation of embarrassment. So having...
11.If I shall say, etc. David represents himself as a man using every possible method to make his escape from a situation of embarrassment. So having acknowledged that it was vain to dream of flight, he bethinks himself of another remedy, and says, If no speed of mine can bear me out of the range of God’s vision, yet, on the supposition of light being removed, the darkness might cover me, that I might have a short breath of respite. But this also he declares to be hopeless, as God sees equally well in the deepest darkness as at noon-day. It is a mistake in my opinion to consider, as some have done, that the two clauses of the verse are to be taken separately, and read, If I shall say the darkness will cover me, even the night shall be as light before me — meaning that darkness would be converted into light, and so though he saw nothing himself, he would stand manifest before the eye of God. David is rather to be considered as in both clauses expressing what he might be supposed to feel desirous of, and intimates that, could he only find any covert or subterfuge, he would avail himself of the license; 208 “if I shall say, at least the darkness will cover me, and the night be as light for me,” that is, in the sense in which it is so to the robbers or wild beasts of the forest, who then range at greater liberty. That this is the proper construction of the words we may infer from the particle
TSK -> Psa 139:11
TSK: Psa 139:11 - -- Surely : Psa 10:11-13, Psa 94:7; Job 22:12-14; Isa 29:15; Jer 23:24
even the night : Job 12:22
Surely : Psa 10:11-13, Psa 94:7; Job 22:12-14; Isa 29:15; Jer 23:24
even the night : Job 12:22

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Psa 139:11
Barnes: Psa 139:11 - -- If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me - If I seek to find refuge in the darkness of the night so that God would not see me. The word ren...
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me - If I seek to find refuge in the darkness of the night so that God would not see me. The word rendered "cover"-
Even the night shall be light about me - In respect to me. It shall be as if I stood in the full blaze of light. God can see me still; he can mark my goings; he can perceive all that I do as plainly then as at mid-day. This "is"so: and what a thought this is for a wicked man who seeks to escape detection in his crimes by perpetrating them in the night! What a thought for a good man, that in the darkest night of sorrow, when there seems to be nothing but deep midnight, when there appears to be not a ray of light in his dwelling, or on his path that all to the eye of God is as clear as noon-day! For in that night of sorrow God sees him as plainly as in the brightest days of prosperity and joy.
Poole -> Psa 139:11
Shall be as clear and manifest to God as the light itself.
Haydock -> Psa 139:11
Haydock: Psa 139:11 - -- Fire of hell, (Worthington; Chaldean) as well as temporal afflictions, from lightning, &c., Psalm xvii. 9. (Haydock) ---
Some have ridiculed the be...
Fire of hell, (Worthington; Chaldean) as well as temporal afflictions, from lightning, &c., Psalm xvii. 9. (Haydock) ---
Some have ridiculed the belief of hell. But the universality of this opinion is a strong proof of it, as it is also confirmed by revelation. (Berthier)
Gill -> Psa 139:11
Gill: Psa 139:11 - -- If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me,.... The darkness of a cloud or of the night, so that my actions shall not be seen; that is, if I enterta...
If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me,.... The darkness of a cloud or of the night, so that my actions shall not be seen; that is, if I entertain such a thought in my mind, that what I do in the dark will escape the sight and knowledge of God, and so be emboldened to commit it;
even the night shall be light about me; and make all my works manifest, as light does.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Psa 139:11; Psa 139:11
Geneva Bible -> Psa 139:11
Geneva Bible: Psa 139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be ( g ) light about me.
( g ) Though darkness is a hinderance to man's sight, yet...

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> Psa 139:1-24
TSK Synopsis: Psa 139:1-24 - --1 David praises God for his all-seeing providence;17 and for his infinite mercies.19 He defies the wicked.23 He prays for sincerity.
MHCC -> Psa 139:7-16
MHCC: Psa 139:7-16 - --We cannot see God, but he can see us. The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord. Whither can I go? In the most distant corners of the world, in ...
Matthew Henry -> Psa 139:7-16
Matthew Henry: Psa 139:7-16 - -- It is of great use to us to know the certainty of the things wherein we have been instructed, that we may not only believe them, but be able to tell...
Keil-Delitzsch -> Psa 139:8-12
Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 139:8-12 - --
The future form אסּק , customary in the Aramaic, may be derived just as well from סלק ( סלק ), by means of the same mode of assimilation...
Constable: Psa 107:1--150:6 - --V. Book 5: chs. 107--150
There are 44 psalms in this section of the Psalter. David composed 15 of these (108-110...

Constable: Psa 139:1-24 - --Psalm 139
David praised God for His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence in this popular psalm. It...
