44:21 would not God discover it,
for he knows 1 one’s thoughts? 2
For the music director, a psalm of David.
139:1 O Lord, you examine me 4 and know.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; 5
you are aware of everything I do. 6
139:4 Certainly 7 my tongue does not frame a word
without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. 8
139:5 You squeeze me in from behind and in front;
you place your hand on me.
139:6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;
it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. 9
7:2 They do not realize 10
that I remember all of their wicked deeds.
Their evil deeds have now surrounded them;
their sinful deeds are always before me. 11
1 tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.
2 tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.
3 sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.
4 tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.
5 tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).
6 tn Heb “all my ways.”
7 tn Or “for.”
8 tn Heb “look, O
9 tn Heb “too amazing [is this] knowledge for me, it is elevated, I cannot attain to it.”
10 tn Heb “and they do not say in their heart”; TEV “It never enters their heads.”
11 tn Heb “they [the sinful deeds] are before my face” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NCV “they are right in front of me.”