Psalms 139:13

Certainly ¹  you made my mind and heart; ²  you wove me together ³  in my mother’s womb.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb.

My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother’s body.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

Certainly ¹  you made my mind and heart; ²  you wove me together ³  in my mother’s womb.

¹ tn Or “for.”

² tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).

³ tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.