For small groups · 10 questions
Psalm 139 Bible study questions
God knows David fully, is with him everywhere, made him in the womb, and is invited to search his heart.
Read the chapter aloud first. Then take the questions in order: what it says, what it means, what to do. About 45 minutes. Skip any question that doesn’t fit your group.
Start here
- Who knows you best?
Look: what does it say?
- What does God know about David?Psalm 139:1-4
- Where does David imagine going, and what does he find there?Psalm 139:7-12
- What does David say about how he was made?Psalm 139:13-16
Understand: what does it mean?
- Being fully known can feel comforting or frightening. Which does David feel?Psalm 139:5-6
- Darkness is not dark to God. What does that mean for someone in a dark time?Psalm 139:11-12
- David ends by asking God to search him. Why ask, if God already knows?Psalm 139:23-24
Live it: what will we do?
- Is there a place in your life where you have tried to hide from God?Psalm 139:7
- How would it change your week to believe you were “made in awe-inspiring and wonderful ways”?Psalm 139:14
- Pray verses 23 and 24 this week. What do you think God might show you?Psalm 139:23-24
Close in prayer
Pray verses 23 and 24 together, then thank God for each person in the group.
Psalm 139
Lumin Translation. It prints after the questions, so the group has the words in front of them.
For the choir director. Of David. A psalm.
1 Yahweh, you have examined me, and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand; from far off you discern what I am thinking.
3 You sift through my going and my lying down; every one of my ways is known to you.
4 Even before a word reaches my tongue, Yahweh, you know every bit of it.
5 Behind and in front you have closed me in, and you have set your hand on me.
6 This knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too lofty, beyond my reach.
7 Where could I go to get away from your Spirit? Where could I run from your presence?
8 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I spread my bed in Sheol, there you are!
9 If I take up the wings of the dawn and make my home at the farthest edge of the sea,
10 there too your hand will lead me, and your right hand will grasp me.
11 If I say, “Darkness is sure to overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,”
12 even darkness is not dark to you; the night gives light just as the day does, and to you darkness and light are alike.
13 For you brought my inner being into existence; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I thank you, because I have been made in awe-inspiring and wonderful ways. Your works are marvelous, and my soul is deeply aware of it.
15 My bones were not concealed from you when I was being made in secret, embroidered with skill in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo; in your book they were all recorded, the days fashioned for me, each one of them.
17 How precious your thoughts are to me, God! How immense is their total!
18 If I counted them, they would be more plentiful than sand. I wake up, and I am still with you.
19 God, if only you would put the wicked to death! You who shed blood, depart from me!
20 They speak of you with scheming minds; your enemies use your name for worthless ends.
21 Do I not hate the ones who hate you, Yahweh? Am I not disgusted with those who rise up against you?
22 My hatred for them is total; they have become enemies to me.
23 Examine me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my restless thoughts.
24 See whether there is any way in me that brings pain, and guide me in the everlasting way.
Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.