Discovery BoxPsalms 139:1-2 
ContextFor the music director, a psalm of David.
139:1 O Lord, you examine me 2 and know.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
Psalms 139:11-12
Context139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 3
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 4
139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, 5
and the night is as bright as 6 day;
darkness and light are the same to you. 7
1 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.
2 tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.
3 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
4 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”
5 tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “shines like.”
7 tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”
