
Text -- Psalms 139:15 (NET)




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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
My substance was not hid from thee -

Clarke: Psa 139:15 - -- Curiously wrought - רקמתי rukkamti , embroidered, made of needlework. These two words, says Bishop Horsley, describe the two principal parts o...
Curiously wrought -
When I was formed in secret
When I was wrought, as with a needle
in the lowest parts of the earth
"He who remarks this, (but the man who consults Versions only will hardly remark it), and at the same time reflects upon the wonderful composition of the human body, the various implication of veins, arteries, fibres, membranes, and the ‘ inexplicable texture’ of the whole frame; will immediately understand the beauty and elegance of this most apt translation. But he will not attain the whole force and dignity, unless he also considers that the most artful embroidery with the needle was dedicated by the Hebrews to the service of the sanctuary; and that the proper and singular use of their work was, by the immediate prescript of the Divine law, applied in a certain part of the high priest’ s dress, and in the curtains of the tabernacle, Exo 28:39; Exo 26:36; Exo 27:16; and compare Eze 16:10; Eze 13:18. So that the psalmist may well be supposed to have compared the wisdom of the Divine Artificer particularly with that specimen of human art, whose dignity was through religion the highest, and whose elegance (Exo 35:30-35) was so exquisite, that the sacred writer seems to attribute it to a Divine inspiration.

Clarke: Psa 139:15 - -- In the lowest parts of the earth - The womb of the mother, thus expressed by way of delicacy.
In the lowest parts of the earth - The womb of the mother, thus expressed by way of delicacy.
Calvin -> Psa 139:15
Calvin: Psa 139:15 - -- 15.My strength was not hid from thee That nothing is hid from God David now begins to prove from the way in which man is at first formed, and points ...
15.My strength was not hid from thee That nothing is hid from God David now begins to prove from the way in which man is at first formed, and points out God’s superiority to other artificers in this, that while they must have their work set before their eyes before they can form it, he fashioned us in our mother’s womb. It is of little importance whether we read my strength or my bone, though I prefer the latter reading. He next likens the womb of the mother to the lowest caverns or recesses of the earth. Should an artizan intend commencing a work in some dark cave where there was no light to assist him, how would he set his hand to it? in what way would he proceed? and what kind of workmanship would it prove? 213 But God makes the most perfect work of all in the dark, for he fashions man in mother’s womb. The verb
Defender: Psa 139:15 - -- This refers to the basic frame or skeleton. Note also the similar testimony in Ecc 11:5. The marvels of embryonic growth are still largely unexplained...
This refers to the basic frame or skeleton. Note also the similar testimony in Ecc 11:5. The marvels of embryonic growth are still largely unexplained by scientists but God knows!

Defender: Psa 139:15 - -- "Curiously wrought" means "embroidered," a striking description of the double-helical DNA molecular program which organizes part by part the beautiful...
"Curiously wrought" means "embroidered," a striking description of the double-helical DNA molecular program which organizes part by part the beautiful structure of the whole infant.

Defender: Psa 139:15 - -- For "lowest parts," read "nether parts" or "hidden parts." God made these hidden parts or elements of the earth, then formed Adam's body from this "du...
For "lowest parts," read "nether parts" or "hidden parts." God made these hidden parts or elements of the earth, then formed Adam's body from this "dust of the earth" (Gen 2:7). He created within the body of Adam and Eve the marvelous and complex ability to multiply that body and to generate from these lowest parts of the earth through the curiously wrought embroidery of DNA, all the many billions of their descendants including David himself."
TSK -> Psa 139:15
TSK: Psa 139:15 - -- substance : or, strength, or body
when I : Psa 139:13; Job 10:9-11; Exo 11:5
in the lowest : Psa 63:9; Eph 4:9
substance : or, strength, or body
when I : Psa 139:13; Job 10:9-11; Exo 11:5

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> Psa 139:15
Barnes: Psa 139:15 - -- My substance was not hid from thee - Thou didst see it; thou didst understand it altogether, when it was hidden from the eyes of man. The word ...
My substance was not hid from thee - Thou didst see it; thou didst understand it altogether, when it was hidden from the eyes of man. The word "substance"is rendered in the margin, "strength"or "body."The Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac, the Arabic, and Luther render it, "my bone,"or "my bones."The word properly means strength, and then anything strong. Another form of the word, with different pointing in the Hebrew, means a bone, so called from its strength. The allusion here is to the bodily frame, considered as strong, or as that which has strength. Whatever there was that entered into and constituted the vigor of his frame, the psalmist says, was seen and known by God, even in its commencement, and when most feeble. Its capability to become strong - feeble as it then was - could not even at that time be concealed or hidden from the view of God.
When I was made in secret - In the womb; or, hidden from the eye of man. Even then thine eye saw me, and saw the wondrous process by which my members were formed.
And curiously wrought. - Literally, "embroidered."The Hebrew word -
In the lowest parts of the earth - Wrought in a place as dark, as obscure, and as much beyond the power of human observation as though it had been done low down beneath the ground where no eye of man can penetrate. Compare the notes at Job 28:7-8.
Poole -> Psa 139:15
Poole: Psa 139:15 - -- My substance or, My bone , as the LXX. and others render the word. And bone may be here taken collectively for bones, as is usual in such words, o...
My substance or, My bone , as the LXX. and others render the word. And bone may be here taken collectively for bones, as is usual in such words, or for the whole fabric of the bones And the bones may be very fitly mentioned here, because they are inward and invisible, as being covered with skin, and flesh, and sinews. Or the bones may be put synecdochically for the whole body, as being the most substantial part of it, as they are Psa 35:10 .
In secret in the dark vault of my mother’ s womb.
Curiously wrought Heb. embroidered ; exquisitely composed of bones, and muscles, and sinews, and veins, and arteries, and other parts, all framed with such wonderful skill, that even heathens, upon the contemplation of all the parts of man’ s body, and how excellently they were framed, both for beauty and use, have broken forth into pangs of admiration and adoration of the Creator of man, as Galen particularly did.
In the lowest parts of the earth or, as it were in the lowest parts of the earth . So there is only an ellipsis of the note of similitude, which is very frequent in Scripture, as hath been often said and proved. In a place as secret and remote from human eyes as the lowest parts of the earth are, to wit, in my mother’ s womb. And so what is said in the former clause is repeated in this in other words.
Gill -> Psa 139:15
Gill: Psa 139:15 - -- My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret,.... Or "my bone" n; everyone of his bones, which are the substantial parts of the body, ...
My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret,.... Or "my bone" n; everyone of his bones, which are the substantial parts of the body, the strength of it; and so some render it "my strength" o; those, though covered with skin and flesh yet, being done by the Lord himself, were not hid from him; nor the manner of their production and growth, which being done in secret is a secret to men; for they know not how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child, Ecc 11:5; but God does;
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth; or formed in my mother's womb, as the Targum, and so Jarchi, like a curious piece of needlework or embroidery, as the word p signifies; and such is the contexture of the human body, and so nicely and curiously are all its parts put together, bones, muscles, arteries, veins, nerves, and fibres, as exceed the most curious piece of needlework, or the finest embroidery that ever was made by the hands of men; and all this done in the dark shop of nature, in the "ovarium", where there is no more light to work by than in the lowest parts of the earth. The same phrase is used of Christ's descent into this world, into the womb of the virgin, where his human nature was curiously wrought by the finger of the blessed Spirit, Eph 4:9.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Psa 139:15; Psa 139:15
NET Notes: Psa 139:15 The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath...
Geneva Bible -> Psa 139:15
Geneva Bible: Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [and] curiously wrought ( k ) in the lowest parts of the earth.
( k ) That is, in my m...

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 139:13-18
Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 139:13-18 - --
The fact that man is manifest to God even to the very bottom of his nature, and in every place, is now confirmed from the origin of man. The develop...
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...
