Psalm 139 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 139:5, 139:17, 139:20
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 139
Known in every place and from the beginning
Verse 139:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:1] For the music director. Of David. A psalm.
YHWH, You searched me and knew me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:1] For the end. A psalm for David.
Lord, You tested me and knew me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew music-director convention and Greek for the end preserve their respective superscription forms. Searching versus testing slightly shifts the examination image.
Verse 139:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:2] You know my sitting and my rising;
You discern my thought from afar.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:2] You knew my sitting and my rising;
You understood my reasonings from afar.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The same total awareness of movement and thought appears, with Greek plural reasonings and completed verbs.
Verse 139:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:3] You sifted my path and my lying down;
You are familiar with all my ways.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:3] You traced my path and my measuring cord,
and You foresaw all my ways.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew lying down differs from Greek schoinos, provisionally measuring cord or measured course; Greek foreseeing differs from Hebrew familiarity. Hebrew sifting/probing and the Greek cord metaphor require lexical review.
Verse 139:4 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:4] For there is not a word on my tongue—
look, YHWH, You know it all.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:4] For there is no word on my tongue,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek places Look, Lord, You knew all at the start of the next verse. That clause is not duplicated here. Hebrew before a word is a plausible temporal interpretation, but no before has been inserted.
Verse 139:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:5] Behind and before You hemmed me in,
and placed Your palm upon me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:5] look, Lord, You knew all things, the last and the first;
You formed me and placed Your hand upon me.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek joins the knowing clause to last and first, and says formed me; Hebrew behind and before modifies hemming in. The different spatial or temporal structure and shaping or enclosing verbs remain visible.
Verse 139:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:6] Knowledge is too wondrous for me;
it is too high—I cannot attain it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:6] Your knowledge was made wondrous beyond me;
it grew strong—I cannot reach it.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly says Your knowledge and strong, whereas Hebrew has knowledge and lofty. Beyond me is a provisional construal of Greek ex emou; from me is a literal alternative. The unusual displayed Hebrew wondrous-form needs lexical review.
Verse 139:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:7] Where can I go from Your spirit,
and where can I flee from Your face?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:7] Where can I go from Your Spirit,
and where can I flee from Your face?
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The same question links God’s Spirit with His face or presence. Capitalization marks clear divine agency, consistently with Psalm 103:30 and Genesis 1:2; it does not itself decide personal or Trinitarian interpretation.
Verse 139:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:8] If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
if I spread my bed in Sheol, look, You are there.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:8] If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
if I descend into Hades, You are present.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew bedding down in Sheol differs from Greek descending into Hades. The respective underworld names remain distinct.
Verse 139:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:9] If I take the wings of dawn
and settle at the sea’s farthest edge,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:9] if I take up my wings at dawn
and settle at the sea’s farthest reaches,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew wings belonging to dawn differs from Greek my wings taken at dawn. The possessive and temporal shift are not erased.
Verse 139:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:10] even there Your hand will lead me,
and Your right hand will hold me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:10] indeed, even there Your hand will guide me,
and Your right hand will hold me fast.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Divine guidance and grasp at the remotest place correspond.
Verse 139:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:11] And I said, “Surely darkness will overwhelm me,
and night will be light around me.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:11] And I said, “Then darkness will trample me,
and night is illumination in my delight.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew yeshufeni is provisionally overwhelm, with cover or crush alternatives; Greek explicitly tramples. Greek in my delight differs from Hebrew around me. The surprising night-as-light clause is retained rather than changed into light becoming night.
Verse 139:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:12] Even darkness is not dark to You;
night shines like day,
darkness and light alike.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:12] For darkness will not be dark from You,
and night will be illuminated like day;
as its darkness, so also its light.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both deny darkness the power to conceal from God; Greek future forms and its darkness/light preserve the exact relations. From You is an awkward but retained Greek preposition.
Verse 139:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:13] For You acquired my kidneys;
You wove me together in my mother’s womb.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:13] For You acquired my kidneys, Lord;
You supported me from my mother’s womb.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew in-womb weaving or covering differs from Greek support from the womb, and Greek adds Lord. Kidneys preserves the concrete bodily noun; broader inner-self interpretation belongs in notes.
Verse 139:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:14] I thank You, for I was fearfully distinguished;
wondrous are Your works,
and my soul knows very well.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:14] I will thank You, for I was made fearfully wonderful;
wondrous are Your works,
and my soul knows very well.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew distinguished or wonderfully set apart and Greek made wonderful are related but not identical. The familiar made phrase is not imported as a second unprinted Hebrew verb.
Verse 139:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:15] My frame was not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
woven in earth’s depths.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:15] My bone was not hidden from You, which You made in secret,
and my substance in earth’s lowest places.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek directly names You as Maker and uses a nominal substance clause, while Hebrew passives describe making and weaving. Earth’s depths remain an image without asserting an unprinted biological or cosmological mechanism.
Verse 139:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:16] Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in Your book all of them would be written—
days were formed,
and not one among them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:16] Your eyes saw my unworked substance,
and in Your book all will be written;
they will be formed over days, and none among them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Both final clauses are compressed and unresolved. Hebrew formed days is often construed as appointed life-days; Greek masculine all and none need an antecedent not supplied here, with hemeras provisionally over days. No yet existed, body parts, or unconsulted alternative reading has been inserted.
Verse 139:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:17] How precious to me are Your thoughts, God;
how vast are their sums!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:17] Your friends were greatly honored by me, God;
their beginnings grew very strong.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew re‘ekha is provisionally thoughts, with friends as a lexical alternative; Greek explicitly friends. Hebrew heads or totals is construed as sums, while Greek archai is provisionally beginnings, with authorities or ruling powers also possible. The classification is provisional given these live lexical alternatives.
Verse 139:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:18] If I count them, they outnumber the sand;
I awake, and I am still with You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:18] I will count them, and they will multiply beyond the sand;
I awoke, and I am still with You.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both preserve innumerability and continuing presence; the antecedent of them follows each column’s preceding thoughts or friends.
Verse 139:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:19] If only You would kill the wicked, God!
Men of blood, turn away from me,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:19] If You kill sinners, God—
men of blood, turn away from me,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew the conditional is construed as a wish, Greek remains an open condition. The direct address then turns to violent men; no missing conclusion is invented.
Verse 139:20 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:20] who speak of You with scheming;
Your adversaries lift up [Your name] in vain.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:20] for You will speak into deliberation;
they will take Your cities into vanity.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew the adversaries’ malicious speech differs from Greek You will speak and Your cities. Your name in brackets is a contextual supplement to the otherwise objectless Hebrew lifting expression, not an explicit source noun. Both the Hebrew syntax and Greek deliberation/vanity clauses require specialist review.
Verse 139:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:21] Do I not hate those who hate You, YHWH,
and loathe those who rise against You?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:21] Did I not hate those who hate You, Lord,
and melt away over Your enemies?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek melting away over enemies differs from Hebrew revulsion toward rebels. The strong hate language remains in both without a later moral gloss inside the translation.
Verse 139:22 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:22] I hate them with complete hatred;
they have become my enemies.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:22] I hated them with complete hatred;
they became enemies to me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The same full hostility is expressed with differing verbal aspect.
Verse 139:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:23] Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:23] Test me, God, and know my heart;
examine me and know my paths,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew anxious thoughts differs from Greek paths; the examination verbs also exchange nuances.
Verse 139:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[139:24] See whether a way of pain is in me,
and lead me in the everlasting way.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[138:24] and see whether a way of lawlessness is in me,
and guide me in an eternal way.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew pain, grief, or offense is provisionally pain; Greek explicitly lawlessness. Hebrew everlasting or ancient way remains an interpretive question, whereas Greek uses eternal.