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Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Psalms 139:7

Spirit. — If this clause stood alone we should naturally understand by God’s Spirit His creative and providential power, from which nothing can escape (comp. Psalms 104:30). But taken in parallelism with presence in the next clause the expression leads on to a thought towards which the theology of the Old Testament was dimly feeling, which it nearly reached in the Book of Wisdom. “The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world,” but which found its perfect expression in our Saviour’s announcement to the woman of Samaria.

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See also Psalms 139:7 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Psalms 139:7. _WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT?_] Surely רוח _ruach_ in this sense must be taken _personally_, it certainly cannot mean either _breath_ or _wind_; to render it so would make t...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT? - Where shall I go where thy spirit is not; that is, where thou art not; where there is no God. The word “spirit” here does not refer particularly to the Holy Spiri...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    Psalms 139 In the Divine Presence _ 1. His omniscience (Psalms 139:1)_ 2. His omnipresence (Psalms 139:7) 3. Praising Him ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    CXXXIX. GOD IS EVERYWHERE: HE KNOWS EVERYTHING OH THAT HE WOULD DESTROY THE WICKED. This Ps. is among the most spiritual productions of the OT. It deals with the mystery of Divine providence, a theme...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    SPIRIT. Hebrew. _ruach._ App-9. PRESENCE. Hebrew. face. Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia._ App-6....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The power and presence of God are universal. The Psalmist's question does not imply that he wishes to escape from God, but that escape would be impossible if he wished it. The -spirit of Jehovah" in t...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    God is everywhere present: man cannot escape or hide himself....

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 734 THE OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE OF GOD Psalms 139:1. O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar of...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT, &C.— Though the Psalmist acknowledged the divine omniscience to be full of wonders, and a height to which no human, no finite understanding could possibly ascend; y...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PSALMS 139 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE An Individual submits Himself to Jehovah's All-Searching Eye. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 139:1-6, Jehovah's Knowledge considered as Taking into View every Form of Human...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT? OR WHERE SHALL I FLEE FROM THY PRESENCE? If I had reason to fear judicial vengeanc...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    One of the very greatest of the Pss. No grander tribute has ever been paid to the omniscience and omnipresence of God. The Ps. is ascribed to David, but the Hebrew is decisive in favour of a date very...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Psalms 107:150 _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING PSALMS 139 Jesus said, "Your Father (God) knows how many hairs there are on your head!" ...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    אָ֭נָ֥ה אֵלֵ֣ךְ מֵ רוּחֶ֑ךָ וְ֝ אָ֗נָה מִ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Psalms 139:1 THIS is the noblest utterance in the Psalter of pure contemplative theism, animated and not crushed by the thought of God's omniscience and omnipresence. No less striking than the unequal...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE ALL-SEEING GOD Psalms 139:1 The psalmist speaks as if there were only two beings in the universe-God and himself. In all literature there is no nobler conception of the divine attributes. _ God'...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The conception of intimate personal relation between God and man is perhaps more remarkably and forcefully dealt with in this song than in any other in the whole collection. The great facts are first...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Whither shall I go from thy (e) spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? (e) From your power and knowledge?...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    I would not make a chasm in the reading of these verses, because the latter of them, according to my view, throw a light upon the former. It may, no doubt, be truly said by David, and by every man lik...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    7._Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? _I consider that David prosecutes the same idea of its being’ impossible that men by any subterfuge should elude the eye of God. By the _Spirit of God _we are no...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Psalms 139 shows the complete exercise of heart that belongs to God's ways. Though the faithfulness of God perfects all His purposed blessing, not a thought escapes God. There is, morally speaking, no...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    WHITHER SHALL I GO FROM THY SPIRIT?.... Or, "from thy wind?" which some interpret literally, the wind being God's creature; which he brings out of his treasures, and holds in his fists, and disposes o...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Ver. 7. _Whither shall I go from thy spirit?_] Here he argueth God's omniscience from his omnipresence; and this the hea...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?_ From thy knowledge and observation; or, from thee who art a Spirit? _Whither shall I flee from thy presence?_ I can go nowhere but thou art there, observing and j...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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 heaven, or in hell, I cannot go out of thy r...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    FROM THY SPIRIT; either, 1. From the Holy Ghost, the third person in the Trinity: or, 2. From thee, who art a Spirit, and therefore canst penetrate into the most secret parts: or, 3. From thy mind o...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Psalms 139:7 go H3212 (H8799) Spirit H7307 flee H1272 (H8799) presence H6440 J

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Psalms 139:7 I. God is in all modes of personal existence. These are all covered by the contrast between heaven and hell, than which no words would suggest a completer contrast to every thoughtful He...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Psalms 139:1. _O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me._ God does not need to «search» us, for that implies a want of knowledge, a knowledge obtained by search. But the meaning of the text is, th...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    This is a Psalm we can never read too often. It will be to us one of the greatest safeguards against sin if we have its teaching constantly before our mind's eye, and the teaching of this Psalm is sim...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    In this Psalm, David praises God by specially dwelling upon the one attribute of omniscience. If we really wish to praise God, we must think of him as he is, and it is the best praise that we can rend...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    May the all-seeing God, of whom this Psalm speaks, look down upon us and bless us richly while we read it! Psalms 139:1. _O LORD thou hast searched me, and known me._ «Known me perfectly, far better...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Psalms 139:1. _O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me._ «Thou hast explored me, as men dig in mines, and make subterranean excavations. Thou hast searched into my secret parts, and known me.» P...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Meditation upon the doctrines of God's omniscience and omnipresence. CHARACTERS: God, David. CONCLUSION: The God with whom we have to do has a perfect knowledge of us and all the motions a...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    This psalm is entitled, a _psalm of David._ All the Versions agree with the Hebrew in this. It must be regarded as one of the sublimest representations of the Divinity, and particularly with regard to...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?_ THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD I. Lay down some positions. 1. God is intimately and essentially in all parts and places of the world. One of the heathen, being asked t...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me._ GOD’S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN This lyric has always been the subject of praise. Aben Ezra said there was none like it in the five books. Lord Brough...

  • The children's great texts of the Bible by James Hastings

    GOD EVERYWHERE Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Psalms 139:7. Boys and girls, in the midst of a crowd of school companions does it not sometimes dawn u...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 139:1. The closing request of this hymn (“search me, O God, and know my heart”) echoes the opening statement. This highlights the psalm’s theme: God’s knowledge of his peopl...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    PSALM—NOTE ON PSALMS 139:7 The next section makes it clear that there is no way the singer can escape such knowledge. There is nowhere in the universe that God will not be present to LEAD and HOLD the...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    INTRODUCTION “Nowhere,” says Perowne, “are the great attributes of God—His omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotence, set forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere is the...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION A song of praise to God for his omniscience, his omnipresence, and his marvelous powers, ending with a prayer for the destruction of the wicked, and for the purifying from evil of the psalm...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Psa 139:1-24, another psalm of David to the chief musician. As David offers this prayer really unto God, declaring, first of all, O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me (Psalms 139:1). Recogniz...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Acts 5:9; Jeremiah 23:23; Jeremiah 23:24; Jonah 1:10; Jonah 1:3...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THOU GOD SEEST ME _Selections from Psalms 139:1_ INTRODUCTORY WORDS The world today needs a new vision of the Deity of Christ. Our Lord Jesus has been dragged down from His place of authority and p...

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