🎵WEB · Psalms 139:6
What does Psalms 139:6 mean?
"This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it."
— Psalms 139:6 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.
Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Explanation
Psalm 139:6 comes in the middle of David's meditation on God's complete knowledge of him. In the verses just before this one, David has been reflecting on how thoroughly God knows him—his sitting down and rising up, his thoughts from far away, his words before he even speaks them, and God's hand upon him "behind and before." Verse 6 is David's response to all of this: he is overwhelmed. He is not describing a piece of information he lacks, but the sheer scale of God's knowledge of him as a person. It is "beyond" him, "too high" or "lofty," and something he simply "cannot attain." In plain language, David is saying, "I cannot wrap my mind around how completely you know me."
This psalm is attributed to David and reads as a personal, worshipful reflection rather than a theological treatise written to a specific audience with a particular problem to solve. It fits within the broader tradition of Hebrew wisdom and worship poetry that grapples with who God is in relation to human beings. The psalm as a whole moves through God's omniscience (verses 1-6), God's omnipresence (verses 7-12), God's role as Creator who formed David in the womb (verses 13-16), and finally returns to praise and a request for God to search David's heart (verses 17-24). Verse 6 functions as a kind of pause or exclamation point after the first movement of the psalm—David has just described God's intimate knowledge of him, and now he steps back and admits it staggers him.
Theologically, this verse expresses the doctrine of God's omniscience—not as an abst
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.