For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
What does Psalms 139:13 mean?
We cannot see God, but he can see us. The psalmist did not desire to go from the Lord.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside its immediate passage and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Psalms 139:13
For thou hast possessed my reins - The word here rendered "possessed" means properly to "set upright," to "erect," and hence, the derivative of the verb is applied to a cane or reed, as being erect. Then the word means to found, to create, Genesis 14:19 , Genesis 14:22 - as the heavens and the earth; and then, to get, to gain, to purchase, etc. Here the word seems to be used in its original sense, to make, create, etc. The idea is, not as in our translation, that God "possessed" or "owned" them but that he had "made" them, and that, "therefore," he knew all about them.
Key words
- reins
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reins. Jeremiah 11:20 . See Psalm 7:9 , note; Job 19:27 , note.
- cover
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cover. So it is rendered by De Wette and by Gesenius (Lexicon).
Context in Psalms 139
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Psalms 139 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Book V. Psalms is the Bible’s great book of sung prayer, teaching the full range of faithful speech from anguish and repentance to jubilation and doxology. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prayer, praise, and lament in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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