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Passage Research

Psalm 139 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for Psalm 139, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

24
verses
177 / 128
Hebrew words / lemmas
10
classic sermon excerpts
5
preachers & commentators

Psalm 139 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Hebrew Transliteration Strong's Count Glosses
יָדַע yâdaʻ H3045 6 know, seeing
שָׂנֵא sânêʼ H8130 3 hate
חָקַר châqar H2713 2 penetrate, examine intimately
דֶּרֶךְ derek H1870 3 road, trodden
נָחָה nâchâh H5148 2 guide, transport
חֹשֶׁךְ chôshek H2822 2 dark, darkness
אוֹר ʼôwr H215 2 illumination, luminary

How preachers through history handled this text

10 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 139, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Matthew Henry 4 Alexander MacLaren 2 Spurgeon 2 Ambrose 1 John Wesley 1

“God's counsels concerning us and our welfare are deep, such as cannot be known. We cannot think how many mercies we have received from him. It would help to keep us in the fear of the Lord all the day long, if, when we wake in the morning, our first thoughts were of him: and how shall we admire and bless our God for his precious salvation, when we awake in the world of glory! Surely we ought not to use our members and senses, which are so curiously fashioned, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. …”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Psalm 139:17–30 (Public Domain)

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Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Psalm 139, delivered in 45 minutes.