:
1 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. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:1
"Lord, You have tried me, and known me" [Psalm 139:1]. Let the Lord Jesus Christ Himself say this; let Him too say, "Lord," to the Father. For His Father is not His Lord, save because He has deigned to be born according to the flesh. He is Father of the God, Lord of the Man. Would you know to whom He is Father? To the coequal Son. The Apostle says, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." [Philippians 2:6-7] To this "Form" God is Father, the "Form" equal to Himself, the only-begotten Son, begotten of His Substance. But forasmuch as for our sakes, that we might be re-made, and made partakers of His Divine Nature, being renewed unto life eternal, He was made partaker of our mortal nature, what says the Apostle of Him? He says, "yet He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man." He was in the Form of God, equal to the Father; He took upon Him the form of a servant, so as therein to be less than the Father....

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:2
"You have known My down-sitting and Mine up-rising" [Psalm 139:2]. What here is "down-sitting," what "up-rising"? He who sits, humbles himself. The Lord then "sat" in His Passion, "up-rose" in His Resurrection. "You," he says, hast known this; that is, You have willed, You have approved; according to Your will was it done. But if you choose to take the words of the Head in the person of the Body: man sits when he humbles himself in penitence, he rises up when his sins are forgiven, and he is lifted up to the hope of everlasting life. Lift not up yourselves, unless you have first been humbled. For many wish to rise before they have sat down, they wish to appear righteous, before they have confessed that they are sinners....

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:3-4
"You have understood my thoughts from afar; You have tracked out my path and my limit" [Psalm 139:3]; "and all my ways You have seen beforehand" [Psalm 139:4]. What is, "from afar"? While I am yet in my pilgrimage, before I reach that, my true country, You have known my thoughts....The younger son went into a far country. After his toil and suffering and tribulation and want, he thought on his father, and desired to return, and said, "I will arise, and go to my father." "I will arise," said he, for before he had sat. Here then you may recognise him saying, "You have known my down-sitting and up-rising." I sat, in want; I arose, in longing for Your Bread. "You have understood my thoughts from afar." For far indeed had I gone; but where is not He whom I had left? Wherefore the Lord says in the Gospel, that his father met him as he was coming. Truly; for "he had understood his thoughts from afar." "My path," he says; what, but a bad path, the path he had walked to leave his father?...What is, "my path"? That by which I have gone. What is, "my limit"? That whereunto I have reached. "You have tracked out my path and my limit." That limit of mine, far distant as it was, was not far from Your eyes. Far had I gone, and yet You were there. "And all my ways You have seen beforehand." He said not, "hast seen," but, "hast seen beforehand." Before I went by them, before I walked in them, You saw them beforehand; and You permitted me in toil to go my own ways, that, if I desired not to toil, I might return into Your ways. "For there is no deceit in my tongue." What meant he by this? Lo, I confess to You, I have walked in my own way, I have become far from You, I have departed from You, with whom it was well with me, and to my good it was ill with me without You....

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:5
"Behold Thou, Lord, hast known all my last doings, and the ancient ones" [Psalm 139:5]. You have known my latest doings, when I fed swine; You have known my ancient doings, when I asked of You my portion of goods. Ancient doings were the beginnings to me of latest ills: ancient sin, when we fell; latest punishment, when we came into this toilsome and dangerous mortality. And would that this may be "latest" to us; it will be, if now we will to return. For there is another "latest" for certain wicked ones, to whom it shall be said, "Go ye into everlasting fire." [Matthew 25:41] ..."You have fashioned me, and hast laid Your hand upon me." "Fashioned me," where? In this mortality; now, to the toils whereunto we all are born. For none is born, but God has fashioned him in his mother's womb; nor is there any creature, whereof God is not the Fashioner. But "You have fashioned me" in this toil, "and laid Your hand upon me," Your avenging hand, putting down the proud. For thus healthfully has He cast down the proud, that He may lift him up humble.

[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 139:6
And so, when you have gone over all these points with suitable reflections on each, when you have, in addition, studied the process of breathing, the manner in which the heart conserves its warmth, the organs of digestion and the veins, you will discern in all of these wonders the inscrutable wisdom of the Creator; so that you will be able to say with the prophet: “Your knowledge is become wonderful” from the study of myself. “Give heed, therefore, to yourself,” that you may give heed to God, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 139:6
In truth, to know oneself seems to be the hardest of all things. Not only our eye, which observes external objects, does not use the sense of sight on itself, but even our mind, which contemplates intently another’s sin, is slow in the recognition of its own defects. Therefore, even at present our speech, after eagerly investigating matters pertaining to others, is slow and hesitant in the examination of our own nature. Yet, it is not possible for one, intelligently examining himself, to learn to know God better from the heavens and earth than from our own constitution, as the prophet says, “Your knowledge is become wonderful from myself”; that is, having carefully observed myself, I have understood the superabundance of wisdom in you.

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Psalms 139:6
Therefore, let us listen to what the prophet says about this: “Your knowledge is too wonderful for me.” But let us see what he says further on: “I will give you thanks, for you are fearful and wonderful.” Why “fearful”? We wonder at the beauty of columns, mural art, the physical bloom of youth. Again, we wonder at the open sea and its limitless depth, but we wonder fearfully when we stoop down and see how deep it is. It was in this way that the prophet stooped down and looked at the limitless and yawning sea of God’s wisdom. And he was struck with shuddering. He was deeply frightened, he drew back, and he said in a loud voice, “I will give you thanks for you are fearfully wondrous; wondrous are your works.” And again, “Your knowledge is too wondrous for me; it is too lofty and I cannot attain to it.”Do you see how prudent the servant is and how grateful is his heart? What he is saying is this: “I thank you that I have a Master whom I cannot comprehend.” And he is not now speaking of God’s essence. He passes over the incomprehensibility of his essence as if it is something on which everybody is agreed. What he is speaking of here is God’s omnipresence; and he is showing that this is the very thing that he does not understand, namely, how God is present everywhere. To prove to you that he is speaking of God’s omnipresence, listen to what follows: “If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to hell, you are present.” Do you see how God is everywhere present? The prophet did not know how this was true but he shudders, he is upset, he is at a loss when he so much as thinks about it.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:6
"Your skill has displayed itself wonderfully in me: it has waxed mighty: I shall not be able to attain unto it" [Psalm 139:6]. Listen now and hear somewhat, which is obscure indeed, yet brings no small pleasure in the understanding thereon. Moses, the holy servant of God, with whom God spoke by a cloud, for, speaking after human fashion, He must needs speak to His servant through some work of His hands which He assumed,...longed and desired to see the true appearance of God, and said to God, who was conversing with him, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, show me Yourself." [Exodus 33:13] When this he desired vehemently, and would extort from God in that sort of friendly familiarity, if we may so speak, wherewith God deigned to treat him, that he might see His Glory and His Face, in such wise as we can speak of God's Face, He said unto him, "You can not see My Face; for no one has seen My Face, and lived;" [Exodus 33:20] but I will place you in a cleft of the rock, and will pass by, and will set My hand upon you; and when I have passed by, you shall see My back parts. And from these words there arises another enigma, that is, an obscure figure of the truth. "When I have passed by," says God, "you shall see My back parts;" as though He has on one side His face, on another His back. Far be it from us to have any such thoughts of that Majesty! For whoso has such thoughts of God, what advantages it him that the temples are closed? He is building an idol in his own heart. In these words then are mighty mysteries....They who raged against the Lord, whom they saw, now seek counsel how they may be saved; and it is said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you." [Acts 2:38] Behold, they saw the back parts of Him, whose face they could not see. For His Hand was upon their eyes, not for ever, but while He passed by. After He had passed He took away His Hand from their eyes. When the hand was taken from their eyes, they say to the disciples, "What shall we do?" At first they are fierce, afterwards loving; at first angry, afterwards fearful; at first hard, then pleasant; at first blind, then enlightened....

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:6
Do we, whose minds are so feeble, believe that we can comprehend whether God’s foresight is the same as his memory and understanding, who do not behold individual things by thought but embraces all that he knows in one eternal, unchangeable and ineffable vision? In this difficulty and distress, therefore, we may indeed cry aloud to the living God, “Your knowledge is become wonderful to me; it is sublime, and I cannot reach it.” For I understand from myself how wonderful and how incomprehensible your knowledge is, by which you have made me, when I consider that I cannot even comprehend myself whom you have made; and yet in my meditation a fire flames out, “so that I seek your face evermore.”

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 139:6
Since water does not support horses, donkeys, mules, the tracks of wheels and the marks of wagons and chariots, which are all unmistakable guides to travelers by land, the Maker of the universe has given to the broad seas the disposition of the stars like road tracks on land.Praise the wonders of divine providence!
Oh! Ineffable love! Oh! unspeakable wisdom!
Who could marvel enough at the goodness of divine providence, at its power, its nobility in difficulties, its ease in managing awkward situations, its magnificence, its resourcefulness? Truly your knowledge was wonderful to me: “I was overwhelmed and could not reach to it.” That is my exclamation, too. If you listen to me, you too will recite these words with me, praise the Benefactor with all your might and render grateful words of thanks for his countless blessings.

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 139:6
And so loud is their proclamation that the whole human race hears their voice, “There are no speeches or utterances where their voices are not heard.” For every race and every tongue hears the proclamations of day and night. Tongue differs from tongue, but nature is one and derives the same lesson from day and night. Thus the same author, singing the praises of the Creator in another psalm, says, “Your knowledge was wonderful to me; I was overwhelmed, and I could not reach to it.”

[AD 99] Clement of Rome on Psalms 139:7-10
Since, therefore, all things are seen and heard, let us fear him and abandon the abominable lusts that spawn evil works, in order that we may be shielded by his mercy from the coming judgments. For where can any of us escape from his mighty hand? For the Scripture says somewhere, “Where shall I go, and where shall I be hidden from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I depart to the ends of the earth, there is your right hand; if I take my bed in the depths, there is your Spirit.” Where, then, can one go, or where can one flee from him who embraces the universe?

[AD 367] Hilary of Poitiers on Psalms 139:7-10
My mind, intent on the study of truth, took delight in these most pious teachings about God. For it did not consider any other thing worthy of God than that he is so far beyond the power of comprehension that the more the infinite spirit would endeavor to encompass him to any degree, even though it be by an arbitrary assumption, the more the infinity of a measureless eternity would surpass the entire infinity of the nature that pursues it. Although we understood this teaching in a reverent manner, it was clearly confirmed by these words of the prophet: “Whither shall I go from your spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also shall your hand lead me and your right hand shall hold me.” There is no place without God, nor is there any place which is not in God. He is in heaven, in hell and beyond the seas. He is within all things; he comes forth and is outside all things. While he thus possesses and is possessed, he is not included in anything nor is he not in all things.

[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 139:7-10
If they really conceive of a kind of subordination of the Son in relation to the Father, as though he were in a lower place, so that the Father sits above and the Son is thrust off to the next seat below, let them confess what they mean. We shall have no more to say. A plain statement of the view will at once expose its absurdity. They who refuse to allow that the Father pervades all things do not so much as maintain the logical sequence of thought in their argument. The faith of the orthodox is that God fills all things; but they who divide their up and down between the Father and the Son do not remember even the word of the prophet: “If I climb up into heaven, you are there; if I go down to hell, you are there also.” Now, to omit all proof of the ignorance of those who predicate place of incorporeal things, what excuse can be found for their attack upon Scripture, shameless as their antagonism is, in the passages “Sit on my right hand” and “Sat down on the right hand of the majesty of God”? The expression “right hand” does not, as they contend, indicate the lower place, but equality of relation; it is not understood physically, in which case there might be something sinister about God, but Scripture puts before us the magnificence of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating the seat of honor. It is left then for our opponents to allege that this expression signifies inferiority of rank. Let them learn that “Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God,” and that “he is the image of the invisible God” and “brightness of his glory” and that “him has God the Father sealed,” by engraving himself on him.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:7-10
“For if our heart should have a bad opinion [of us],” that is, should accuse us within, because we do not do with that intention with which it ought to be done, “God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” You conceal your heart from people; conceal it from God if you can. How will you conceal it from him to whom it was said by a certain sinner, “Where shall I go from your spirit, and from your face where shall I flee?” He was asking where he might flee to escape the judgment of God and did not find [an answer]. For where is God not? “If I ascend into heaven,” he says, “you are there. If I descend into hell, you are present.” Where will you go? Where will you flee? Do you wish to listen to advice? If you wish to flee from him, flee to him! Flee to him by confessing, not by hiding from him. For you cannot hide, but you can confess. Say to him, “You are my refuge,” and let love be nurtured in you, which alone leads to life. Let your conscience bear testimony to you because it is of God. If it is of God, do not wish to boast of it before people because neither the praises of people lift you into heaven nor do their censurings put you down from there. Let him who gives the crown see; let him be witness by whom as Judge you are crowned. God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:7-10
For God was everywhere who said, “I fill heaven and earth.” But if this was said of the Father, where could he be without his Word and his Wisdom, “which teaches from end to end mightily, and orders all things sweetly”? But neither could he be anywhere without his Spirit. If, therefore, God is everywhere, then his Spirit is also everywhere. Consequently, the Holy Spirit was also sent to that place where he already was. For he, too, who finds no place to which he could go from the face of God, says, “If I shall ascend into heaven, you are there; if I shall descend into hell, you are present,” wishing it to be understood that God is present everywhere, referred to his Spirit in the preceding verse. For there he spoke as follows: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? And where shall I flee from your face?”

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:7-10
For this reason, of course, it was not enough for Jesus to say, “I will that where I am they also may be,” but he added, “with me.” For to be with him is a great good. For even the wretched can be where he is because wherever anybody at all may be [there] he also is; but the blessed alone are with him, because they will be unable to be blessed except by his action. Or has it not been truly said to God, “If I ascend into heaven, you are there; and if I descend into hell, you are present”? Or on the other hand is Christ not God’s Wisdom, which “reaches everywhere by reason of its purity”?

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:7
Behold you find that the runaway in a far country cannot escape His eyes, from whom he flees. And whither can he go now, whose "limit is tracked out"? Behold, what says he? "Whither shall I go from Your Spirit?" [Psalm 139:7]. Who can in the world flee from that Spirit, with whom the world is filled? [Wisdom 1:7] "And whither shall I flee from Your Face?" He seeks a place whither to flee from the wrath of God. What place will shelter God's runaway? Men who shelter runaways, ask them from whom they have fled; and when they find any one a slave of some master less powerful than themselves, him they shelter as it were without any fear, saying in their hearts, "he has not a master by whom he can be tracked out." But when they are told of a powerful master, they either shelter not, or they shelter with great fear, because even a powerful man can be deceived. Where is God not? Who can deceive God? Whom does not God see? From whom does not God demand His runaway? Whither then shall that runaway go from the Face of God? He turns him hither and there, as though seeking a spot to flee to.

[AD 450] Peter Chrysologus on Psalms 139:7-10
“I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The son set out abroad and fled into a far country; but he did not escape from those accusing witnesses, the eyes of the heavenly Father. David explains this more clearly by his words: “Whither shall I go from your spirit? or whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings early in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” David sees that throughout the world all transgressions stand exposed to the eyes of God. Neither the sky, nor the earth, nor the seas, nor a deep cavern nor night itself can hide sins from him. The psalmist perceives how lawless and evil it is to sin in the sight of God. Therefore, he cries out, “To you only have I sinned and have done evil before you.”

[AD 533] Fulgentius of Ruspe on Psalms 139:7-10
Hold most firmly and never doubt that God the Trinity is unbounded in power, not in mass; and that every creature, spiritual and bodily, is bound by his power and his presence. For God the Father says, “I fill the heavens and the earth.” For it is said of the Wisdom of God, which his Son is, that “it reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other and orders all things well.” Concerning the Holy Spirit we read that “the Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world.” And David the prophet says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.”

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:8-9
"If I go up," says he, "to heaven, You are there: if I go down to Hades, You are present" [Psalm 139:8]. At length, miserable runaway, you have learned, that by no means can you make yourself far from Him, from whom you have wished to remove far away. Behold, He is everywhere; thou, whither will you go? He has found counsel, and that inspired by Him, who now deigns to recall him....If by sinning I go down to the depths of wickednesses, and spurn to confess, saying, "Who sees me" (for "in Hades who shall confess to You?" ) there also You are present, to punish. Whither then shall I go that I may flee from Your presence, that is, not find You angry? This plan he found: So will I flee, says he, from Your Face, so will I flee from Your Spirit; from Your avenging Spirit, Your avenging Face thus will I flee. How? "If I take again my wings right forward, and abide in the utmost parts of the sea" [Psalm 139:9]. So can I flee from Your Face. If he will flee to the utmost part of the sea from the Face of God, will not He from whom he flees be there?...For what are "the utmost parts of the sea," but the end of the world? Thither let us now flee in hope and longing, with the wings of twofold love; let us have no rest, save in "the utmost parts of the sea." For if elsewhere we wish for rest, we shall be hurled headlong into the sea. Let us fly even to the ends of the sea, let us bear ourselves aloft on the wings of twofold love; meanwhile let us flee to God in hope, and in faithful hope let us meditate on that "end of the sea."

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:10
Now listen who may bring us there. The very same One whose face in wrath we wish to flee from. For what follows? "Even there shall Your hand conduct me, and Your right hand lead me" [Psalm 139:10]. This let us meditate on, beloved brethren, let this be our hope, this our consolation. Let us take again through love the wings we lost through lust. For lust was the lime of our wings, it clashed us down from the freedom of our sky, that is, the free breezes of the Spirit of God. Thence dashed down we lost our wings, and were, so to speak, imprisoned in the power of the fowler; thence "He" redeemed us with His Blood, whom we fled from to be caught. He makes us wings of His commandments; we raise them aloft now free from lime....Needs then must we have wings, and needs must He conduct us, for He is our Helper. We have free-will; but even with that free-will what can we do, unless He help us who commands us?

[AD 649] Sahdona the Syrian on Psalms 139:11-12
Likewise we Christians who are Christ’s servants should truly stand valiantly in wakefulness like “good and faithful servants” who are eager to do honor to their master. Let us gird ourselves in asceticism, inwardly strengthened by austerity, having the lamps of our hearts filled with the oil of grace39 from the Spirit and illumined by prayer; in this way we shall valiantly do battle with the powerful incitement provided by the sweetness of sleep. In this way “the dark will be light for us,” just as the prophet said, “and night will be illumined by our faces”: the darkness will not make our minds dark, so let us spend the dark night awake as if it were bright daylight.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:12
"For darkness shall not be darkened by You" [Psalm 139:12]. Do not thou then darken your darkness; God darkens it not, but enlightens it yet more; for to Him is said in another Psalm, "You, Lord, shall light my candle: my God shall enlighten my darkness." But who are they who "darken their darkness," which God darkens not? Evil men, perverse men; when they sin, verily they are darkness; when they confess not their sins which they have committed but go on to defend them, they "darken their darkness." Wherefore now if you have sinned you are in darkness, but by confessing your darkness you shall obtain to have your darkness lightened; by defending your darkness, you shall "darken your darkness." And where will you escape from double darkness, who wast in difficulty in single darkness?...Let us not "darken our darkness" by defending our sins, and "the night shall be light in our delight."

[AD 258] Cyprian on Psalms 139:13-18
Let them not persuade themselves that they should not do penance, who, although they have not contaminated their hands by impious sacrifices, yet have defiled their consciences with certificates. That profession is of one who denies; the testimony is of a Christian who rejects what he had been. He said that he had done what another actually did, and, although it is written, “You cannot serve two masters,” he served a secular master, he submitted to his edict, he obeyed human authority rather than God. He should have seen whether he published what he committed with less scandal or less guilt among people; however, he will not be able to escape and avoid God as his judge, for the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms, “Your eyes have seen my imperfection, and all will be written in your book,” and again, “People look on the face, but God [looks] on the heart. Let the Lord himself also forewarn and instruct you with these words: “And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the desires and hearts.” He perceives the concealed and the secret and considers the hidden, nor can anyone evade the eyes of God who says, “Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? Shall a person be hid in secret places and I not see him?” He sees the hearts and breasts of each one, and, when about to pass judgment not only on our deeds but also on our words and thoughts, he looks into the minds and the wills conceived in the very recess of a still closed heart.

[AD 373] Ephrem the Syrian on Psalms 139:13-18
Watch, for when the body is sleeping it is nature that holds sway over us, and our activity is directed not by our wills but by the impulse of nature. When a heavy torpor of weakness and sadness rules over the soul, it is the enemy who holds sway over it and leads it against its own desire. It is force that holds sway over nature and the enemy who holds sway over the soul. That is why our Lord spoke of vigilance of soul and of body lest the body sink into a heavy sleep and the soul into a sluggishness born of timidity; just as [Scripture] says, “Let justice awaken you,” and, “When I awake I am still with you,” and, “Do not lose heart.” This is why “we do not lose heart” in the ministry confided to us.

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Psalms 139:13-18
Therefore the Lord supported us when he fashioned us; he supports us also when he bids us to be born. Consequently, the just person says, “You have supported me from my mother’s womb.” Whose mother’s? “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Those, whom the Lord forms, he also supports; he supports them even in their coming forth: “And before you came forth from your mother’s womb, I sanctified you.” He is our supporter, for he has supported us with his hands. He is called a supporter as the Creator of the human race. And he is our supporter, for he has supported us by his visitation, that he may protect us. In view of this, the psalmist himself says in another passage, “He that dwells in the aid of the most High shall say to the Lord, ‘You are my supporter and my refuge.’ ” The first support is that of God’s working in us, the second in that of his protection of us. Indeed, listen to Moses saying, “Spreading his wings he received them and supported them upon his shoulders.” He supported them like the eagle, which was accustomed to examine its progeny, so as to keep and to bring up those whom it observed to possess the qualities of a true offspring and the gift of an undamaged constitution and to reject those in whom it detected weakness of a degenerate origin even at that tender age.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:13
"For Thou, O Lord, hast possessed my reins" [Psalm 139:13]. The Possessor is within; He occupies not only the heart, but also the reins; not only the thoughts, but also the delights: He then possesses that whence I should feel delight at any light in this world: He occupies my reins: I know not delight, save from the inward light of His Wisdom. What then? Do you not delight that your affairs are very prosperous, times fortunate to you? Do you not delight in honour, in riches, in your family? "I do not," says he. Wherefore? Because "You have possessed my reins, O Lord; You have taken me up from my mother's womb." While I was in my mother's womb, I did not regard with indifference the darkness of that night and the light of that night....Now, having been taken up from the womb of that our mother, we look on them with indifference, and say, "As is His darkness, so is also His light." Neither does earthly prosperity make us happy, nor earthly adversity wretched. We must maintain righteousness, love faith, hope in God, love God, love our neighbours also. After these toils we shall have unfailing light, day without setting. Fleeting is all the light and darkness of this night.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:14
"I will confess to You, O Lord, for terribly have You been made wonderful: wondrous are Your works, and my soul knows it right well" [Psalm 139:14]. Aforetime "Your knowledge was made wonderful from me, it had waxed great, nor could I attain unto it." From me then "it had waxed great." Whence does "my soul" now "know right well," save because the "night is light in my delight?" save because Your grace has come unto me, and enlightened my darkness? save because You have possessed my reins? save because You have taken me up from my mother's womb?

[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Psalms 139:15
It is said also by those who treat of the nature and generation of animals, that the change of the blood into bone is something invisible and intangible, although in the case of other parts, I mean the flesh and nerves, the mode of their formation may be seen. And the Scripture also, in Ecclesiastes, adduces this, saying, As you know not the bones in the womb of her that is with child, so you shall not know the works of God. But from You was not hid even my substance, as it was originally in the lowest parts of the earth.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:15
"My bone is not hid from You, which You have made in secret" [Psalm 139:15]. "His bone," he says. What the people call ossum, is in Latin called os. This is the word in the Greek. For we might think the word os is here the one which makes in the plural ora, not os (short), which makes ossa. He says then, I have a certain bone (ossum) in secret. For this word let us prefer to use; better is it that scholars find fault with us, than that the people understand us not. "There is then," says he, a certain bone of mine, within, hidden; You have made within a bone for me in secret, yet is it not hidden from You. In secret have You made it, but have You therefore hidden it from Yourself? This my bone made by You in secret men see not, men know not: You know, who hast made. What "bone" then means he, brethren? Let us seek it, it is "in secret." But because as Christians we are speaking in the Name of the Lord to Christians, now we find what bone is of this kind. It is a sort of inward strength; for strength and fortitude are understood to be in the bones. There is then a sort of inward strength of the soul, wherein it is not broken. Whatever tortures, whatever tribulations, whatever adversities rage around, that which God has made strong in secret in us, cannot be broken, yields not. For by God is made a certain strength of patience, of which is said in another Psalm, "But my soul shall be subjected to God, for of Him is my patience.". ..Wherein do you glory? "In tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience." [Romans 4:5] See how that strength is fashioned within in his heart: "because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." So is fashioned and made strong that hidden bone, that it makes us even to glory in tribulations. But to men we seem wretched, because that which we have within is hidden from them. "And my substance is in the lower parts of the earth." Behold, in flesh is my substance, yet have I a bone within, which You have fashioned, such as to cause me never to yield to any persecutions of this lower region, where still my substance is. For what great matter is it, if an Angel be brave? This is a great matter, if flesh is brave. And whence is flesh brave, whence is an earthen vessel brave, save because in it is made a bone in secret?

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:16-17
..."Your eyes did see Mine imperfect one, and in Your book shall all be written" [Psalm 139:16], not only the perfect, but also the imperfect. Let not the imperfect fear, only let them advance. Nor yet, because I have said, "let them not fear," let them love their imperfection, and remain there, where they are found. Let them advance, as far as in them lies. Daily let them add, daily let them approach; yet let them not fall back from the Body of the Lord: that, compacted in one Body and among these members, they may be counted worthy to have that said of them. "By day shall they wander, and none among them." "The Day" was yet on earth, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Whence He said, "Walk while you have the day." [John 12:35] But "by day shall" His imperfect ones "wander." They too thought that our Lord Jesus Christ was only man, that He had not within Him the hidden Godhead, that He was not secretly God, but that He was that only which was seen: this they too thought....But what is, "In the day they shall wander"? Shall they perish? Where then is, "In Your book shall all be written"? When then did they "wander in the day"? When they understood not the Lord set upon earth. And what follows? "But to me Your friends are made very honourable, O God" [Psalm 139:17]; those very ones, who "wandered in the day, and none was in them," became Your friends, and were made very honourable to me. That bone was made in them in secret after the resurrection of the Lord, and they suffered for His Name, at whose death they had been amazed. "Mightily strengthened were their chieftainships." They became Apostles, they became leaders of the Church, they became rams leading their flocks, "mightily strengthened."

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:18
"I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand" [Psalm 139:18]. By means of them, who "wandered in the day," lo! There has been born all this great multitude, which now is like the sand innumerable, save by God. For He said, "they shall be multiplied above the sand," and yet He had said, "I will number them." The very same who are numbered, "shall be multiplied above the sand." For by Him is the sand numbered, by whom "the very hairs of our head are numbered." [Matthew 10:30] "I have risen, and yet am I with You." Already have I suffered, says He, already have I been buried; lo! I have risen, and not yet do they understand that I am with them. "Yet am I with You," that is, not yet with them, for not yet do they recognise Me. For thus do we read in the Gospel, that after the resurrection of oar Lord Jesus Christ, when He appeared to them, they did not at once know Him. There is another meaning also: "I have risen, and yet am I with You," as though He would signify this present time, wherein He is as yet hidden at the right hand of the Father, before He is revealed in the brightness, wherein He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Psalms 139:21-22
Yet, it is not hard for us, if we wish it, to take up a love for justice and a hatred for iniquity. God has advantageously given all power to the rational soul, as that of loving, so also that of hating, in order that, guided by reason, we may love virtue but hate vice. It is possible at times to use hatred even praiseworthily. “Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated you and pined away because of your enemies? I have hated them with a perfect hatred.”

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:21-22
And then He tells what meanwhile, during this whole time when He already has risen, and remains still with the Father, He suffers by the intermixture of sinners in His Body, the Church, and by the separation of heretics. "If Thou, O God, shall slay the sinners (since You shall say in Your thought, Depart from Me, you men of blood), they shall receive in vanity their cities" (ver. 19-20). The words seem to be connected in this order; "If Thou, O God, shall slay the sinners, they shall receive in vanity their cities." Thus are sinners slain, because, "having their understandings darkened, they are alienated from the life of God." [Ephesians 4:18] For on account of elation they lose confession, and so they are slain, and in them is fulfilled what Scripture says, "Confession perishes from the dead, as from one that is not." [Sirach 17:28] And so "they receive in vanity their cities," that is, their vain peoples, who follow their vanity; when, puffed up by the name of righteousness, they persuade men to burst the bond of unity, and blindly and ignorantly follow them, as being more righteous....But now the Body of Christ, the Church, says, Why do the proud speak falsely against me, as though I were stained by other men's sins, and so, by separating themselves, "receive in vanity their cities"? "Have not I hated those who hated You, Lord?" [Psalm 139:21]. Why do those who are worse themselves require of me to separate myself in body as well as spirit from the wicked, so as to root up the wheat, together with the tares, before the time of harvest, that before the time of winnowing I lose my power of enduring the chaff; that before all the different sorts of fishes are brought to the end of the world, as to the shore, to be separated, I tear the nets of peace and unity? Are the sacraments which I receive, those of evil men? Do I; by consent, communicate in their life and deeds?...But where is, "Love your enemies"? Is it because He said "yours," not "God's"? "Do good to them that hate you." [Matthew 5:44] He says not, "who hate God." So he follows the pattern, and says, "Have not I hated those who hated You; Lord?" He says not, "Who have hated me." "And at Your enemies did I waste away." "Yours," he said, not "mine." But those who hate us and are enemies unto us, only because we serve Him, what else do they but hate Him, and are His enemies. Ought we then to love such enemies as these? Or do not they suffer persecution for God's sake, to whom it is said, "Pray for them that persecute you"? Observe then what follows. "With a perfect hatred did I hate them" [Psalm 139:22]. What is, "with a perfect hatred"? I hated in them their iniquities, I loved Your creation. This it is to hate with a perfect hatred, that neither on account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on account of the men love the vices. For see what he adds, "They became mine enemies." Not only as God's enemies, but as his own too does he now describe them. How then will he fulfil in them both his own saying, "Have not I hated those that hated You, Lord," and the Lord's command, "Love your enemies"? How will he fulfil this, save with that "perfect hatred," that he hate in them that they are wicked, and love that they are men? For in the time even of the Old Testament, when the carnal people was restrained by visible punishments, how did Moses, the servant of God, who by understanding belonged to the New Testament, how did he hate sinners when he prayed for them, or how did he not hate them when he slew them, save that he "hated them with a perfect hatred"? For with such perfection did he hate the iniquity which he punished, as to love the manhood for which he prayed.

[AD 431] Paulinus of Nola on Psalms 139:21-22
I also ask and beg of you to expound for me what [Paul] says to the Romans, for I admit I have very poor sight for this opinion of the apostle about the Jews, where he says, “As concerning the gospel, indeed they are enemies for your sake, but as touching the election they are most dear for the sake of the ancestors.” How can these same ones be enemies for our sake, now that we former Gentiles have become believers, as if Gentiles could only believe if the Jews had refused to believe? Is not God the one Creator of all, “who will have all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and was he not able to gain both without dispossessing one for the other? Second, “most dear for the sake of the ancestors”: how or why this “most dear,” if they do not believe and if they continue to be enemies of God? “O God,” he says, “have I not hated them that hated you and pined away because of your enemies? I have hated them with a perfect hatred.” Certainly, I think the Father’s voice speaks to his Son by the prophet in the same psalm where he spoke on behalf of believers: “But to me your friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; their dominions are exceedingly strengthened.” How can it be profitable for their salvation to be “most dear to God for the sake of the ancestors” when salvation is acquired only through the faith and grace of Christ? What good does it do them to be loved, when they are inevitably to be damned because of their unbelief, because they have fallen away from the faith of the prophets and of the patriarchs, their ancestors, and have become enemies of the gospel of Christ? If they are most dear to God, how shall they be lost? And if they do not believe, how can they fail to be lost? If they are loved for the sake of the ancestors, without any merit of their own, why will they not be saved for the sake of the ancestors, too? “And if, Noah, Daniel and Job shall be in the midst thereof, they shall not deliver the wicked children: they shall be delivered.”

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:23
Since then the Body of Christ is in the end to be severed in body also from the unholy and wicked, but now meanwhile groans among them, what does the "love of Christ among the daughters, as the lily among thorns"? [Song of Songs 2:2] What are her words? What her conscience? What is the "appearance of the king's daughter within"? Lo, hear what she says. "Prove me, O God, and know my heart" [Psalm 139:23]. Do Thou, O God, Thou prove me, Thou know; not man, not an heretic, who neither knows how to prove, nor can know my heart, whereas You prove, and know that I consent not to the deeds of the wicked, while they think that I can be defiled by the sins of others; so that, while I in my long wandering do what I mourn in another Psalm, that is, while I "labour for peace among them that hate peace," until I come to that Vision of peace, which is called Jerusalem, "which is the mother of us all," the city "eternal in the heavens;" they, contending, and falsely accusing and separating themselves, may "receive," not, evidently, in eternity, but "in vanity, their cities." Why this? Observe what follows.

[AD 500] Desert Fathers on Psalms 139:23-24
They used to say about Poemen that when he was ready to go out to the meeting for prayer, he first sat by himself for an hour in self-examination, and then went.

[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 139:24
"And see," says he, "if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" [Psalm 139:24]. "Search," he says, "my paths," that is, my counsels and thoughts. What else says he, but "lead me in Christ"? For who is "the way everlasting," save He that is the life everlasting? For everlasting is He who said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." [John 14:6] If then you find anything in my way which displeases Your eyes, since my way is mortal, do Thou "lead me in the way everlasting," wherein is no iniquity; for even "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins;" [1 John 2:1-2] He is "the Way everlasting" without sin; He is the Life everlasting without punishment.