# Psalms 139.1-2

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-06-01 | updated: 2026-06-01 -->

**Book:** [Psalms](/codex/psalms/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> **1. <sup>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.</sup> O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off.**
>
> 3. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. (Psalms 139:1-4, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> **1. <b>For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. </b> Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. 2. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.**
>
> 3. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether. (Psalms 139:1-4, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> **1. To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.**
>
> 3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. <sup>compassest: or, winnowest</sup> 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. (Psalms 139:1-4, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> **1. To the Overseer., A Psalm by David. Jehovah, Thou hast searched me, and knowest. 2. Thou, Thou hast known my sitting down, And my rising up, Thou hast attended to my thoughts from afar.**
>
> 3. My path and my couch Thou hast fanned, And [with] all my ways hast been acquainted. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, Lo, O Jehovah, Thou hast known it all! (Psalms 139:1-4, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** _TBD_
- **Audience:** _TBD_
- **Location:** _TBD_
- **Time period:** _TBD_

## Theological reading

_Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added._

## Key words

_Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap._

- _TBD_
- _TBD_
- _TBD_
- _TBD_

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## Quoted in

**Arguments and defeaters:**

- [Argument from Irrevocability](/codex/argument-from-irrevocability/), via [Psalms 139.1-6](/codex/psalms-139-1-6/)
- [Argument from the Demand to Be Witnessed](/codex/argument-from-the-demand-to-be-witnessed/)
- [Argument from the Information-Conservation Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-information-conservation-convergence/)
- [Argument from the Memory-Continuity Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-memory-continuity-convergence/)
- [Argument from the Observer-Demand Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-observer-demand-convergence/), via [Psalms 139.1](/codex/psalms-139-1/), [Psalms 139.1-6](/codex/psalms-139-1-6/)

**Concepts:**

- [God is Impossible Paradox Cluster](/codex/god-is-impossible-paradox-cluster/), via [Psalms 139.1-12](/codex/psalms-139-1-12/)

**Lexicon:**

- [H3045 - yada](/codex/h3045-yada/), via [Psalms 139.1](/codex/psalms-139-1/), [Psalms 139.1-6](/codex/psalms-139-1-6/)

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_Scripture quotations taken from the **New American Standard Bible®** (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by **The Lockman Foundation**. Used by permission. All rights reserved. [www.lockman.org](https://www.lockman.org)_

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.