# Psalms 139.1

<!-- 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. (Psalms 139:1-3, 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. (Psalms 139:1-3, 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> (Psalms 139:1-3, 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. (Psalms 139:1-3, 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/), via [Psalms 139.1-2](/codex/psalms-139-1-2/), [Psalms 139.1-6](/codex/psalms-139-1-6/)
- [Argument from the Information-Conservation Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-information-conservation-convergence/), via [Psalms 139.1-2](/codex/psalms-139-1-2/), [Psalms 139.1-6](/codex/psalms-139-1-6/)
- [Argument from the Memory-Continuity Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-memory-continuity-convergence/), via [Psalms 139.1-2](/codex/psalms-139-1-2/)
- [Argument from the Observer-Demand Convergence](/codex/argument-from-the-observer-demand-convergence/)

**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/)

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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.