Psalms 139 (ESV)

24 verses · English Standard Version · Essentially literal

The ESV balances word-for-word accuracy with modern English readability. Favored by scholars and pastors for study and preaching, it preserves the structure of the original Hebrew and Greek while using clear, contemporary language.

Psalms Chapter 139 contains 24 verses and is presented here in the English Standard Version (ESV), which uses a essentially literal approach. Read the full text below, compare with other translations, or navigate to any of the 150 chapters in Psalms.

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Chapter 138Chapter 140

1O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

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

4Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.

5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

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

8If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

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

11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

12even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

13For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

18If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

19Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!

20They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain.

21Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

23Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

24And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Chapter 138Read in NIVChapter 140

About This Translation

What is Psalms 139 in the ESV?

Psalms 139 in the English Standard Version (ESV) contains 24 verses. The ESV uses a essentially literal approach, first published in 2001 (rev. 2016).

How does the ESV translate Psalms 139 differently?

The English Standard Version uses essentially literal, balancing accuracy with modern readability. Compare this with the NIV (dynamic equivalence) version of Psalms 139 for a different perspective.

How many verses are in Psalms 139 (ESV)?

Psalms Chapter 139 contains 24 verses in the English Standard Version. The book of Psalms has 150 chapters total.

Psalms (ESV) — All 150 Chapters