Psalms, Psalms 138-144: Bible online, Synodal translation == BIBLE-CENTER

Psalm 138

According to the inscriptions of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Bibles, the psalm belongs to David.
There are no exact indications of the time and reason for its writing in the contents of the psalm. Because the content of the psalm is imbued with a sense of reverence for the omniscience of the Lord and expresses David’s ardent faith and devotion to the Lord, it can be assumed that it was written around the time of the transfer of the Icon of the Covenant to Jerusalem, when this religious celebration filled him with a high sense of reverence and strengthened him in devotion to the Lord. The addition of Zechariah to the name of David in the LXX indicates the time of the last prophet as one when this psalm found especially strong use among the Jewish people. Lord, You know all my thoughts, words and deeds, and Your exaltation fills me with awe (1–6). Wherever I go - whether to Sheol, to heaven, to the end of the Universe, or to hide in darkness, You see and know everything (7-12). You knit me together in my mother’s womb, you made me wonderfully, and all the time of my life is written in Your book (13-16). How wonderfully everything has been arranged by You and how marvelous are all the manifestations of Your creative thought, which cannot be counted (17–18)! Your greatness makes me hate all the wicked who dare to reproach Your name (19-22). Test me, O God, and do not let me stray from You (23–24).

Your knowledge is so comprehensive and deep that it involuntarily evokes a feeling of reverence before You and the consciousness of the impossibility of a person to comprehend it.

You, Lord, are omniscient and omnipresent. Nothing, anywhere, can ever hide from You.

The “thoughts” of the Lord - all the diversity of creation in its composition, strength, purpose amazes a person and is beyond his ability to fully study; God knows everything perfectly, since each of his creations owes its origin to him and is the bearer and implementer of the thought of God with which it was created; we can say that each creation has its own ideal, for the implementation of which it is awarded the corresponding forces. It is impossible for a person to understand these thoughts, ideals and recognize them due to their sublimity and endless diversity. They are more numerous than sand, and every morning, every day of the writer, when he devotes himself to the study of God’s creation, he discovers all the diversity of the latter and the creative power of God, so that he is always with Him. The meaning is that the writer of the psalm always and everywhere finds new manifestations of the great thoughts of the Lord in his creations, always sees Him (v. 16).

These verses are a conclusion from the entire content of the psalm. If the Lord holds everything in His power, then a person’s true behavior should be expressed in devotion to Him and His guidance, which is why the writer prays to the Lord to test him and direct him to the proper path if he has deviated from the latter in any way.

The psalm presents a vivid and artistic depiction of Divine omniscience and omnipresence.

Publication by the successors of A.P. Lopukhin. Explanatory Bible. Interpretation of the Psalter

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Psalm 138

To the head of the choir. Psalm of David

Lord, You know all my thoughts, words and deeds, and Your exaltation causes me to be in awe (1-6). Wherever I go - whether to Sheol, to heaven, to the end of the Universe, or to hide in darkness, You see and know everything (7-12). You knit me together in my mother’s womb, you made me wonderfully, and all the time of my life is written in Your book (13-16). How wonderfully everything has been arranged by You and how wonderful are all the manifestations of Your creative thought, which cannot be counted (17-18)! Your greatness makes me hate all the wicked who dare to reproach Your name (19-22). Test me, O God, and do not let me stray from You (23-24).

1 Lord! You have tested me and you know. 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thoughts from afar.

1-2. “Experienced” in the sense of researching, studying, and therefore you know everything that I can think, say or do. - “You know when I sit down and when I get up,” that is, the facts of my ordinary, everyday life. - “You understand my thoughts from afar” - in advance, even before the thoughts were formed and became clear to me, You know them.

3 Whether I walk or rest, You surround me, and all my ways are known to You. 4 There is not yet a word on my tongue, but You, Lord, already know it completely. 5 You embrace me from behind and from before, and put Your hand on me.

3-5. “I walk, I rest, my ways” are manifestations of my external activities outside the home - they are known to You. You know in advance my future words, my speech. - “Behind and in front You embrace me” - either in the sense - You have studied me comprehensively, or in the sense - You know not only everything that I am doing now, but also my past and future.

6 [Your] knowledge is marvelous to me - high, I cannot comprehend it!

6. Your knowledge is so comprehensive and deep that it involuntarily evokes a feeling of reverence before You and the consciousness of the impossibility of a person to comprehend it.

7 Where will I go from Your Spirit, and where will I flee from Your presence?

7. You, Lord, are omniscient and omnipresent. Nothing, anywhere, can ever hide from You.

8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I go down to the underworld, you will be there too. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and move to the edge of the sea, 10 and there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will hold me. 11 Shall I say: “Perhaps the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will become night”; 12 But neither shall the darkness be darkened from Thee, and the night is as bright as the day: as is the darkness, so is the light.

8-12. If a person decided to hide from You in the high spheres of heaven or in the underworld, in Sheol, You are there. “Take the wings of dawn” - move with extraordinary speed, similar to how quickly the rays of the rising sun illuminate the entire earth from east to west. - “Edge of the Sea” - the Mediterranean Sea, located to the west of Palestine. According to the idea and understanding of the ancient inhabitants of the East, the waters of this sea limited the entire ancient world from the west. “Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will hold me” - the same as in v. 5. “You... lay Your hand on me,” that is, you know what I will do, you will see that I will act in the direction that is known to You by foreknowledge, that is, man at every time, in every place and in in all his deeds he is the executor of the Lord’s plans for him, not in the sense of God forcing man, but in the sense of his freely choosing the path that He foresaw. - “Darkness will hide me” - if I decided to act secretly, it is useless: You know everything, the night is as clear and bright for You as the day is for a person.

13 For You formed my reins and knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, because I am wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul is fully aware of this. 15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was formed in secret, formed in the depths of the womb. 16 Your eyes have seen my embryo; in Your book are written all the days appointed for me, when not one of them was yet.

13-16. “Arranged the insides” - You know my nature, my composition, both spiritual, mental, and external, physical. - “He wove me in my mother’s womb” - the human body with all its members appears slender and complex in its structure, like intricate and patterned fabrics, where each thread and line serves the overall pattern and strength of the fabric. You know my “bones when I was created in the depths of the womb.” Your knowledge of me is complete and deep, it embraces not only my external structure, my appearance, but also my internal organs, my bones from the very moment of their formation and development in the womb. - “Thy eyes saw my embryo” - You know my original composition, which, like the grain for a plant, contains its future appearance and value, i.e. You know everything that should come from me. - “In Your book are written all the days appointed for me” - You know the period, the duration of my life even before I was born.

17 How lofty are Your thoughts to me, O God, and how great are their number!

17. “Thoughts” of the Lord - all the diversity of creation in its composition, powers, purpose amazes a person and is beyond his ability to fully study; God knows everything perfectly, since each of his creations owes its origin to him and is the bearer and implementer of the thought of God with which it was created; we can say that each creation has its own ideal, for the implementation of which it is awarded the corresponding forces. It is impossible for a person to understand these thoughts, ideals and recognize them due to their sublimity and endless diversity. They are more numerous than sand, and every morning, every day of the writer, when he devotes himself to the study of God’s creation, he discovers all the diversity of the latter and the creative power of God, so that he is always with Him. The meaning is that the writer of the psalm always and everywhere finds new manifestations of the great thoughts of the Lord in his creations, always sees Him (v. 16).

18 Whether I begin to number them, they are more numerous than the sand; when I awaken, I am still with You. 19 Oh, that You, O God, would strike the wicked! Get away from me, bloodthirsty ones! 20 They speak wickedly against you; Your enemies are plotting vain things. 21 Shall I not hate those who hate You, O Lord, and be disgusted by those who rebel against You? 22 I hate them with complete hatred: they are my enemies.

19-22. If the writer of the psalm developed such a deep understanding of the greatness of God in all created things, then everyone “who speaks wickedly against Him,” who insults and humiliates the Lord, is his enemy, with whom he does not want to have any communication.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; 24 And see if I am on a dangerous path, and guide me on the eternal path.

23-24. These verses are a conclusion from the entire content of the psalm. If the Lord holds everything in His power, then a person’s true behavior should be expressed in devotion to Him and His guidance, which is why the writer prays to the Lord to test him and direct him to the proper path if he has deviated from the latter in any way.

The psalm presents a vivid and artistic depiction of Divine omniscience and omnipresence.

Psalm 138

Ps. 138 This psalm is a prayerful appeal to the Lord. The psalmist reflects on God and moves from understanding his indissoluble connection with the Lord to asking for help. Along with the affirmation of the sovereign power of the Lord, the psalm sounds the theme of a close personal relationship between the psalmist and the Most High.

138:1 You have tested me and know me. God is omniscient and therefore knows absolutely everything about the psalmist, as well as about everything He created.

138:2 Thou understandest my thoughts. All the secret thoughts of man are revealed to God, who has omniscience.

138:4 There is not yet a word in my tongue. already know him. And the most secret thoughts are known to God, therefore a prayer, not spoken out loud, but spoken mentally, also reaches the Lord. See the article “God Sees and Knows: Divine Omniscience.”

138:5 Behind and before You embrace me. The psalmist is free in his actions, but only within the limits established by the Lord.

You lay Your hand on me. God used His hand to guide David throughout his life.

138:7 from thy Spirit. from Your presence. The divine presence is diffused throughout the created world. There is no place in the universe where the psalmist could hide from the sight of the Lord. Jonah, who decided to evade the preaching entrusted to him by the Lord in Nineveh, could not hide from Him either. See the article “Spiritual Nature of the Divine.”

138:8 Shall I ascend into heaven? Will I go to hell? Through the contrasts in this and the following verses, the psalmist expresses the idea of the omnipresence of the Lord. He is present both in heaven and in hell. The first statement is self-evident, the second requires clarification. The word “sheol” in the Hebrew text corresponds to “sheol,” which also means the grave, the abyss, the kingdom of death. God is omnipresent and omnipotent, so that posthumous existence is not without His presence and is under His control. Thus, in this verse there is clearly hope for the continuation of life beyond the threshold of death (v. 10).

138:9 Shall I take the wings of the morning? to the edge of the sea. Those. Everywhere on earth the psalmist will feel the presence of God.

138:10 And there thy hand will lead me. God not only knows where the psalmist is at one time or another, but also, wherever he is, helps him. See the article “Omnipresent and Omnipotent”.

Interpretation of Psalm 138

The omniscience of the Divine and His omnipresence and omnipotence - these are the subjects of King David’s thoughts in this beautiful, amazingly poetic psalm. It is divided into four stanzas, each with six verses. The all-pervading and all-encompassing knowledge of the Lord forms the theme of the first stanza. The second theme (second stanza) smoothly emerges from it: the psalmist realizes that every aspect of his life is under the control of the omniscient God, it is impossible to “run away” from Him and because He is omnipresent.

The theme of God's omnipotence (third stanza) is revealed here for David in terms of His wondrous creative potential - using the example of His creation of his own life. All this evokes in the psalmist an enthusiastic reverence for the Lord, a feeling of devoted love for Him and, together with boundless trust in Him, an ardent desire that He will continue to guide his earthly paths and lead him onto the eternal path. (In the context of the psalm, the word “eternal” can be understood as “long-lasting”, “long”, and the phrase “eternal path” - as “the path leading to many years, to long life.”)

The fourth stanza, although connected with the previous ones, in its first part is somewhat out of tune with the general tone of the psalm. But his last two verses echo the first two - both poetically and in meaning (“You have tested me and know - Test me ... and find out; You understand my thoughts - See if I am on a dangerous path”).

A. About the omniscience of God (138:1-6)

Ps. 138:1-6 . The theme of verses 1-6 opens with an introductory phrase (verse 1): David admits in it that the Lord has deeply studied (tested) him, and therefore knows everything about him. He knows David's every move; the opposite nature of those named here: “I sit down - I get up” symbolizes all imaginable movements (a literary device, the so-called merism; compare verses 3 and 8). However, not only the movements, but even the thoughts of David are known to the Lord. He “understands” them from afar (here meaning “long before they arise”).

Just like his word – before it even has time to form in David’s language – the Lord already knows what he is going to say. (Some, albeit very approximate, idea of the poetry of these verses in the original can be gained from the example of the consonance of two words in verse 4 - words and perfect; in Hebrew they sound like millah and kullah.)

The picture of the Lord's comprehensive knowledge of David and His control over him is in verse 5. Your knowledge is marvelous to me! - he exclaims: incomprehensible and unattainable (high); verse 6.

B. The Omnipresence of the Lord (138:7-12)

Ps. 138:7-12 . The idea is expressed by two rhetorical questions in verse 7 and is developed in subsequent verses of this stanza. The hypothetical “Shall I ascend into heaven... shall I descend into the underworld” (the verse is an example of another “merism” (compare verses 2, 3). The Lord is everywhere, the psalmist realizes: both in these “extreme spheres” of the universe, and in any place between In verse 9 there is an image of movement at the speed of light from the eastern border of the universe (on the wings of dawn) to its western border (which, in the minds of the inhabitants of the ancient East, was formed by the Mediterranean Sea implied here).

Everywhere the hand of the Lord will lead... and hold David back (verse 10 compare with verse 5). In both of these verses, the “hand” of the Most High is depicted, however, as a guiding force, not a coercive one: the psalmist realized that man is free to choose his own paths, but the Lord, in His foreknowledge of these paths and in His omniscience, directs and holds His earthly creatures within Your plans for them.

For the Lord, the night is as bright as the day, and therefore it is impossible for anyone who wishes to hide from him in darkness (verses 11-12). “Darkness” can also serve here as a way of acting in secret: in relation to God, attempts to implement them are useless.

C. On the omnipotence of God (138:13-18)

The idea that darkness is powerless to hide a person from the Lord forms the transition to the next stanza, beginning with the word “For.” Does God not know and “see” everything concerning the one whom He created “in his mother’s womb”!

Psalms, Psalm 138

138 According to the inscriptions of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Bibles, the psalm belongs to David. There are no exact indications of the time and reason for its writing in the contents of the psalm. Because the content of the psalm is imbued with a sense of reverence for the omniscience of the Lord and expresses David’s ardent faith and devotion to the Lord, it can be assumed that it was written around the time of the transfer of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, when this religious celebration filled him with a high sense of reverence and strengthened him in devotion to the Lord. The addition of Zechariah to the name of David in the LXX indicates the time of the last prophet as one when this psalm found especially strong use among the Jewish people.

Psalm 138 presents a vivid and artistic portrayal of divine omniscience and omnipresence.

138 Lord, You know all my thoughts, words and deeds, and Your omniscience fills me with awe (1-6). Wherever I go - whether to Sheol, to heaven, to the end of the Universe, or to hide in darkness, You see and know everything (7-12). You knit me together in my mother’s womb, you made me wonderfully, and all the time of my life is written in Your book (13-16). How wonderfully everything has been arranged by You and how wonderful are all the manifestations of Your creative thought, which cannot be counted (17-18)! Your greatness makes me hate all the wicked who dare to reproach Your name (19-22). Test me, O God, and do not let me stray from You (23-24).

138:1-2 Experienced in the sense - examined, studied, and therefore you know everything that I can think, say or do. “You know when I sit down, when I get up,” that is, the facts of my ordinary, everyday life. You understand my thoughts from afar - in advance, even before the thoughts were formed and became clear to me, You know them.

138:3-5 I walk... I rest... my ways are manifestations of my external activities outside the home - they are known to You. You know in advance my future words, my speech. Behind and in front You embrace me - either in the sense - You have studied me comprehensively, or in the sense - You know not only everything that I am doing now, but also my past and future.

138:6 Your knowledge is so comprehensive and deep that it involuntarily evokes a feeling of reverence before You and the consciousness of the impossibility for a person to comprehend it.

138:7 You, O Lord, are omniscient and omnipresent. Nothing, anywhere, can ever hide from You.

138:8-12 If a person decided to hide from You in the high regions of heaven or in the underworld, in Sheol, You are there. “Take the wings of dawn” - move with extraordinary speed, similar to how quickly the rays of the rising sun illuminate the entire earth from east to west. The edge of the sea is the Mediterranean Sea, located to the west of Palestine. According to the idea and understanding of the ancient inhabitants of the East, the waters of this sea limited the entire ancient world from the west. Your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me - the same as in v. 5. “You lay Your hand on me,” that is, you know what I will do, you will see that I will act in the direction that is known to You by foreknowledge, that is, man at every time, in every place and in all in his deeds, he is the executor of the Lord’s plans for him, not in the sense of God forcing man, but in the sense of his freely choosing the path that He foresaw. “Darkness will hide me” - if I decided to act secretly, it is useless: You know everything, the night is as clear and bright for You as the day is for a person.

138:13-16 Arranged the insides - You know my nature, my composition, both spiritual, mental, and external, physical. He wove me in my mother’s womb - the human body with all its members appears slender and complex in its structure, like intricate and patterned fabrics, where each thread and line serves the overall pattern and strength of the fabric. You know my “bones when I was created in the depths of the womb.” Your knowledge of me is complete and deep, it embraces not only my external structure, my appearance, but also my internal organs, my bones from the very moment of their formation and development in the womb. Your eyes saw my embryo - You know my original composition, which, like the seed for a plant, contains its future appearance and value, i.e. You know everything that should come from me. In Your book are written all the days appointed for me - You know the period, the duration of my life even before I was born.

138:17 The thoughts of the Lord - all the diversity of creation in its composition, strength, purpose amazes a person and is beyond his ability to fully study; God knows everything perfectly, since each of his creations owes its origin to him and is the bearer and implementer of the thought of God with which it was created; we can say that each creation has its own ideal, for the implementation of which it is awarded the corresponding forces. It is impossible for a person to understand these thoughts, ideals and recognize them due to their sublimity and endless diversity. They are more numerous than sand, and every morning, every day of the writer, when he devotes himself to the study of God’s creation, he discovers all the diversity of the latter and the creative power of God, so that he is always with Him. The meaning is that the writer of the psalm always and everywhere finds new manifestations of the great thoughts of the Lord in his creations, always sees Him (v. 18).

138:19-22 If the writer of the psalm developed such a deep understanding of the greatness of God in all created things, then everyone “who speaks wickedly against Him,” who insults and humiliates the Lord, is his enemy, with whom he does not want to have any communication.

139:23-24 These verses are a conclusion from the entire content of the psalm. If the Lord holds everything in His power, then a person’s true behavior should be expressed in devotion to Him and His guidance, which is why the writer prays to the Lord to test him and direct him to the proper path if he has deviated from the latter in any way.

Psalm 139 according to the inscription in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Bibles belongs to David. Its content is similar to Psalms 57 and 63. The conclusion in all three psalms is almost exactly the same. The depiction in the psalm of David’s enemies as treacherous, oppressive, plotting and slandering him is similar to those features that we have already repeatedly encountered in psalms from the era of Absalom’s persecution, which is why this psalm should be considered written at this time, when David had not yet fled from Jerusalem , but he saw everything that his enemies did against him.

139 Save me, O Lord, from the enemy, flattering in speech, evil in heart, my oppressor, who has laid snares and snares on me (2-6). Cover me from it, and let my enemy perish as if by fire (7-11). I believe that the Lord will not allow the wicked to triumph, will protect the innocent, and the blameless will find protection in Him (12-14).

139:3 Every day they take up arms in battle; they spend every day in enmity against me and in persecution by intrigues.

139:4 An indication of the means used by the enemies against David. They stirred up the people against him with slander and flattering ingratiation towards him.

139:8 The strength of my salvation is in You, my strength, only from You, and not from man, I expect help and protection. “Cover your head on the day of battle” - protect from an enemy’s blow, save.

139:9 Since my enemies do evil, let the latter cover their heads, that is, let my enemies suffer what they deserve: just as my truth will appear to me as a defense from them, so let their evil deeds destroy them.

139:12 David's faith in the death of his enemies rests on faith in the triumph of righteousness: evil cannot be rewarded by God, and therefore my evil-tongued enemies will certainly perish.

139:14 To dwell before the Lord means either to always enjoy His protection, as if living under the roof of His dwelling, or to thank Him for the protection provided by prayer before His dwelling place, before the ark of the covenant, in His tabernacle.

140 One can date the writing of this psalm by David to the time of persecution from Absalom. This is indicated by David’s depiction of himself as being persecuted by his enemies, and he nowhere speaks of his complete innocence before God, but only that the hostility of the enemies’ actions is not caused by actions on his part that would justify the strength of this hostility. On the contrary, his prayer to God that He would preserve him from all evil and the words “let the righteous punish me” make it possible to assume that David did not always follow God, and that he received reproof from the righteous. This understanding of these words of the psalm indicates the well-known crime of David with Bathsheba and his denunciation by the prophet. The consequence of David’s crime was, as we said earlier, family disorder and, in particular, the rebellion of Absalom.

140 In the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bibles, the psalm is attributed to David.

140 Hasten, O Lord, to me with Your help; may my prayer be directed to You like the incense of the evening sacrifice (1-2). Save me from bad words and evil thoughts; let the righteous reprove me, but I am always against evildoing (3-5). Enemies brutally pursue us, as if cutting the earth with a plow, but I am innocent and meek before them (6-7). I trust in You and believe that You will protect, and the wicked enemies will fall (8-10).

140:2 The psalm represents a prayer to God for salvation from enemies. May my prayer be as pleasing to You, O Lord, as the evening sacrifice and incense offered before You according to the law of Moses are pleasing. David, obviously, was outside Jerusalem when he could not offer a legal sacrifice to God, and the place of the latter is now taken by his verbal prayer and the raising of his hands to the Lord.

140:3-5 Place a guard, O Lord, on my lips and guard the doors of my lips - do not let me transgress Your commandments with words, give me strength to make worthy use of the gift of speech, directing it to serve You. Save me, save me from deviating towards crafty, seductive and criminally sinful speeches, keep my path straight, do not allow me to “deviate into evil words to excuse sinful deeds” - invent, resort to excuses, dodge in search of artificial justifications, as they do wicked people; Let me not be counted among their chosen ones, let me not be counted as their accomplices. Let every action of mine be rebuked by the righteous; this reproof is beneficial and beneficial, like oil on the head. The factual confirmation is the denunciation of David by the prophet Nathan, which caused deep repentance in him and served to his moral revival and reconciliation with God. My prayers are against their atrocities - I not only do not want to be an accomplice of the evil ones, but I beg You to stop, to stop their atrocities.

140:6-7 Their leaders were scattered over the rocks - the leaders of my wicked enemies are watching me everywhere, they were scattered even over all the hills and rocks. They hear my words that they are meek - my admonitions to them are meek and were heard by them. The anger of the enemies was not caused by my attitude towards them: I was meek, but they sought to destroy us as they crush the land for crops.

140:8-10 David points out here that those who persecute him cannot find anything evil or bad in him, for which he should be persecuted the way they are. Such vicious persecution of David on their part will find due punishment from God. The Lord will punish them with a difficult, final outcome of their life, rejection from Himself. Belief in his own rightness and awareness of the sinfulness of his enemies’ actions instills in David the confidence that they will perish in those intrigues (“snares, snares”) that they set for him; he, David, will remain unharmed (“I will cross”). This faith of David, as shown by the outcome of Absalom's persecution, was justified.

141 According to the inscription, the psalm in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Bibles belongs to David and depicts his state that he experienced in the den. This refers to David's stay in the Cave of Adollam ( 1 Samuel 22:1

) during persecution from Saul.

Psalms 141, 140 and 141 are used at Vespers. As in Psalm 129

, here is a prayer to God for salvation from disasters, for the correction of prayer in the likeness of the “evening sacrifice” (
140:2
) and for deliverance from a situation abandoned by everyone, defenseless, as a person is during sleep - (an image of the Old Testament).

141 During troubles, I cried out to the Lord and sought protection only in Him, since there was no protector near me (1-4). I cried to the Lord: listen to my cry, deliver from the oppressors, and then the righteous will gather around me (5-7).

141:2 He poured out prayer - indicates David's constant, intense prayer to God.

141:3-6 I fainted... the spirit - when I lost courage, You, Lord, knew my path - you loved, approved of my actions, showed me protection and favor. Nobody recognizes me - there was no one who was close to me, everyone avoided me. There was no refuge for me - I had nowhere to run to hide from enemies, which is why I seek protection only in You.

141:7 Bring my soul out of prison—deliver me from severe disasters, from a cramped situation, so that I can glorify You. Then (after the disasters have passed) all the righteous who are waiting, watching the course of my fate will join me, so that when You show me a benefit - protect me and pay tribute to my enemies, join me for Your praise.

142 Written, according to the inscriptions of the Greek and Latin Bibles, during the persecution of Absalom, the psalm represents a prayer to God for possible quick help and inner enlightenment of the persecuted writer.

142 This psalm is the last in the sixth psalm. Having strengthened a person in hope of receiving salvation ( Ps. 102

), the Church on behalf of the believers prays to God to show him the path of activity (8th art.), teach him to do His will and honor him with the “land of righteousness” (10).

142 Lord! Hear me and do not enter into court with Your servant (1-2). The enemy is pursuing me; I lose courage and calm down only by thinking about Your works (3-5). I wait for help from You, like a thirsty land for rain. Grant me Your mercy and deliver me from my enemies (6-9). Teach me to do Your will and destroy my enemies (10-12).

142:1-2 Give ear to my prayer according to Thy truth; hear me according to Your righteousness. Protect, O Lord, me, unjustly persecuted, and punish the persecutors as those who act wickedly, since You, Lord, are the defender of righteousness.

142:3 He has trampled my life into the ground - the danger threatens me with death, descent into the ground, into the grave.

142:5 I remember the days of old, I meditate on all Your works, on the works of Your hands. In the difficult circumstances of persecution, David recalled the extraordinary mercy that the Lord had shown in the history of the Jewish people, reflected, as far as circumstances allowed, on everything that He did, and reflected on all His creation. Obviously, these reflections had a calming effect on David, as they revealed the extraordinary love of God for all created things, which is why in the following verses David continues to turn to Him with a prayer for quick help (vv. 6-7).

142:8-10 It is too early to hear mercy - to see ambulance. Show me, Lord, the path that I should follow, teach me to do Your will, let Your good Spirit lead me to the land of righteousness - synonymous expressions. Teach me, Lord, to steadfastly follow Your commandments, so that I may be worthy to dwell in that land (Palestine), which You have appointed only for the righteous.

142:11 For the sake of Your name... revive me - in order to be worthy to praise Your name, revive me with justification, internal cleansing from my shortcomings. Here, David’s recognition of some of his uncleanness before God during his flight from his enemies is one of the signs of the origin of the psalm in the persecution of Absalom, which we discussed above.

143 In the Greek and Latin Bibles, in comparison with the Hebrew inscription, “against Goliath” is also added to the name of David, which indicates the reason for writing the psalm. There is nothing in the content of the psalm that could contradict this indication of the inscription, and therefore it can be considered a prayer before the single combat with the Philistine hero, written only after winning the victory.

143 There are many places in the psalm that we have encountered previously in other psalms, for example. at 8, 17, 37, 101, etc.

143 Blessed be the Lord, my shield and my fortress (1-2). Lord, man is insignificant before You, his life is like a shadow, but You remember him (3-4). God! Bow the heavens, flash the lightning, stretch out Your hand and save me from the foreigners who are full of lies (5-8). For my salvation I will sing to You a new song, as well as for the deliverance of my people from foreigners (9-11). May life come to my people full of both family happiness and external, material abundance (12-15).

143:1 David attributes his victory over Goliath to divine help, for which he prayed before entering the battle.

143:3 The election of David and his anointing by the prophet Samuel as king over Israel filled David with a sense of reverence before God, who, although insignificant among people, honored him with a great election and appointment. The latter is a manifestation of God's great mercy to David. David's victory over Goliath made his name the most popular among the Jewish people. Songs were composed in his honor and he was ranked above Saul. The hearts of the Jews noticeably inclined towards David, which David also noticed and in which he saw the beginning of the fulfillment of the divine appointment over him to be king over Israel, which is why he says that the Lord “subdues the people to him.”

143:4 It may be that the words of this verse refer to Goliath, who, while confident in his strength and victory over David, did not realize how close destruction was to him.

143:5-7 The Lord is omnipotent: they submit to Him, and before Him the mountains tremble, He rains down lightning. Provide me with protection in the fight against the enemy, send miraculous help from heaven (“stretch out Your hand from on high”).

143:8 Characteristics of the Philistines. The Jews waged frequent wars with them, and to completely secure their borders from their attacks, one victory of David over Goliath was not enough, but the complete dispersion of all this people was necessary. David prays to the Lord to help him scatter the enemies who are so hostile to the Jews and treacherous towards them.

143:12-15 David wants the victory over the Philistines to usher in a new era of happy and contented life for the Jews.

144 According to the inscriptions of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Bibles, the psalm belongs to David. The time and reason for its writing are unknown. One can only guess based on its grateful and laudatory content that it was written about the generally great mercies shown to him during his life.

144 The psalm is alphabetical, only one verse is missing, or rather one couplet (the letter nun is missing), which is filled in in the Vulgate and in the LXX in addition to art. 13.

144 I will praise and exalt the name of the Lord every day for His greatness, works and power (1-7). The Lord is generous and merciful, His kingdom is forever (8-14). The Lord supports all those who fall, according to His good pleasure satisfies everyone, is close to all who call on Him, preserves those who love Him, and destroys the wicked. Let all flesh bless the Lord (15-21).

144:1 Bless Your name forever and ever—always, forever. David praised the Lord throughout his life, and his psalms, which became the property of the church, are constantly heard in it now, and will be heard as long as the church exists, that is, forever.

144:7 To proclaim the memory of Your goodness - to proclaim, to constantly speak about those wonderful deeds of the Lord, in which His goodness was manifested towards David and all living things.

144:15-16 These verses constitute a prayer before dinner. You give them their food in due time - at the right time, everything that lives receives from You what it needs to maintain its existence. You saturate... out of good will - this saturation is a work of Your mercy towards existing things.

Interpretation of Psalm 138

138:1 To the head of the choir. Psalm of David. God! You have tested me and you know. David’s conversation with God is in absolute confidence that God knows everything about him that his Creator can know about man, therefore it is completely useless to pretend to be someone else before Him.

138:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thoughts from afar. It is impossible to hide even thoughts from God; He knows them long before they are transformed into words, as it is written below:

that is, David's activity is directed by the hand of God, his freedom is limited by the framework of God's requirements and strict demand for their violation, unlike the majority of humanity, for whom judgment for evil deeds is not quickly carried out (Eccl. 8:11).

138:7 Where will I go from Your Spirit, and where will I flee from Your presence? Even if sometimes there is a temptation to hide far away from the eyes of the Lord and at least take a short break from the need to fulfill God’s instructions, to live a little for your own pleasure, but there is no place in the universe where you could hide from the omnipresent God:

138:11,12 Shall I say: “Perhaps the darkness will hide me, and the light around me [will become] night”; 12 But neither shall the darkness be darkened from Thee, and the night is as bright as the day: as is the darkness, so is the light. God is oriented perfectly in any darkness of the earth, both spiritually and literally: there are no limits to His perception and knowledge, David is clearly aware of this, everything is open to His eyes and there is no point in even trying to hide from God

138:16 Your eyes have seen my embryo; in Your book are written all the days appointed for me, when not one of them was yet. On this verse (Synod. Transl.) many build the doctrine of predestination, of fate programmed for every person even before his birth, however, if God had programmed people on one path or another, then He would not have punished them for their sins . Since He strictly demands and advises everyone to change their lifestyle, taking God’s path, it turns out that we are not talking about fate here.

138:19 Oh, that You, O God, would strike the wicked! Get away from me, bloodthirsty ones! David’s desire can be understood: it is extremely difficult to live among bloodthirsty and warlike people. Every person in whom at least a spark of God glimmers tends to live in peace and goodwill, for this is how God created people at their creation.

138:23 Test me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; David not only does not want to hide from God and hide his actions, but, on the contrary, wants to always be in His field of vision: after all, who, if not God, can analyze the inner essence of David? Who, besides God, can tell him what he needs to correct in himself and what to strive for, what spiritual heights to achieve? Nobody.

Source

You have wonderfully arranged my insides

People leave their father's home in order to admire the grandeur of inaccessible mountain peaks, the power of the unbridled sea elements, and the majestic tranquility of deep rivers. They never cease to be amazed at the vastness of the ocean expanses, constantly watching the movement of the stars in the sky. And they just don’t notice themselves and pass by.

St. Augustine

For You formed my inward parts and knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul is fully aware of this.

David Psalm 139:13–14

We express our deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to the creation of this book. About 20 people took part in the work on it, who helped with valuable advice and suggestions. I would especially like to thank Harold Ficket, Elizabeth Sherrill, and Tim Stafford, who completely restructured the manuscript. Special thanks to our dear and respected editor, Judith McHam.

Preface

When a voice sounds especially loud, it can be difficult to understand what you hear: you listen to the echo to hear an incomprehensible word. God and Nature are our Voice and Echo.

Henry Drummond

Throughout the book, with the exception of this preface, the personal pronoun “I” will refer to Dr. Paul Brand: it is written on his behalf. Unlike most co-authored books, our collaboration is not a collaboration between a journalist and an experienced literary amateur.

I first met Dr. Brand when I was researching material for my book, Where Is God If I'm in So Much Pain? He has extensive medical experience and knows a lot about physical pain. He is very popular as a surgeon and specialist in rehabilitation therapy. Equally famous is his pioneering research into leprosy: he worked for 18 years in leper hospitals in India. For his outstanding services, Dr. Brand received the title of laureate of the Albert Lasker Prize and became an honorary recipient of the Order of Her Imperial Majesty Queen Elizabeth[1].

I had heard a lot about Dr. Brand even before meeting him at the leper colony in Carville, Louisiana, where he lives and works. But then I did not know that his whole life and all his thoughts were inextricably linked with Christianity. This passionate explorer, ornithologist, excellent climber and gardener, who uses only organic fertilizers, cannot imagine his existence without spiritual growth.

During our second meeting, Dr. Brand timidly handed me a 90-page manuscript. Some pages were typewritten, others were written in the illegible handwriting that, for some reason, is always characteristic of doctors. The manuscript is his thoughts on the human body, lectures given at a Christian medical college in Vellore (India). “We doctors,” he told me, “can be compared to a book of complaints. From morning to evening, clients complain to us, telling us what hurts them. The manuscript lay on my desk for a long time. These are my thoughts about everything God has created. I used a well-known analogy from the New Testament (the New Testament compares the church to the Body of Christ) and developed it taking into account the latest advances in science. It’s interesting: all medical discoveries confirm the words of the Apostle Paul.”

I have long wanted to write a book where I could compare the human body with the Body of Christ, trace the harmony of the physical and spiritual worlds.

Chesterton, in his essay “Francis of Assisi,” puts forward his explanation for the terrible period of the Middle Ages: paganism and mythology became so integrated into everyday life that Christians ceased to perceive nature as part of God’s revelation. “It was pointless to persuade these people to profess a natural religion, which had a place for stars and flowers. For them there was not a flower, not even a star, that was not stained. They had to go into the desert, where it was impossible to find a single flower, and even climb into a cave from where the stars could not be seen.”[2] As a result, art fell into decline during that period of history. Christians have alienated nature from the spiritual world.

Something similar is happening in our time. Nature has lost its sacred meaning. Only today Christians have exchanged it not for paganism, but for physics, geology, biology, chemistry.

Thus, we too have ceased to consider nature as part of God's creation.

In Dr. Brand, I saw a man who had achieved undeniable achievements in the field of science and at the same time firmly believed that nature is a reflection of its Creator. Together we made many interesting conclusions from our observations. Then, over the course of several months, I culled the scientific research that supported each comparison we described. I talked with Dr. Brand for many hours. I was amazed by the extraordinary modesty of this man: it took me great effort to break through the wall of his English reserve and hear amazing stories from his personal life.

Dr. Brand and I hope that our book will bridge the gap that separates the created world from the Creator. God created matter. He put His creative essence into this world, especially into the structure of our body. How can you not thank Him for this?

We also really hope that the book will lift the curtain on the world of spiritual interaction between members of the Body of Christ - the church. This exact name - the Body of Christ - was given to the church by the authors of the New Testament. In the first book we will talk about the Body and its four constituent parts; about the rest - in other books.

When they try to explain to a blind person what the color scarlet is, they say to him: “It resembles the sound of a trumpet.” It’s the same with us: metaphors are the only way to reflect spiritual truths. That's why they are used in the Bible. Figurative language has enormous power. John Taylor wrote: “No man is an island in the ocean of life.” These words are much stronger than “No person is completely independent and self-sufficient.” Among religious publications, books with complex theological content or books based on the personal spiritual experience of the authors predominate. We want our comparisons to open up a new side of your perception of the world around you.

If you are offended by such a detailed development of the biblical comparison, then feel free to put the book aside. We don't want to distort the truth to make it fit our own thoughts. It is possible that you will become convinced that the human body is extremely similar to its spiritual double, and you will no longer be confused by the “mundane matters” described in the book.

Philip Yancey

CELLS

Components

I tried to imagine our Earth in the form of a human body, but nothing came of it. I couldn't imagine the planet as an organism. And last night I was driving through the green rolling hills of southern New England and I thought again about our planet. If this is not a human body, then what is it? What is the Earth like? I thought for a long time - suddenly it dawned on me: most of all, the Earth resembles a living cell.

Lewis Thomas

I clearly remember the first time I saw a living cell under a microscope. I was then twenty-one years old and taking a short course in tropical hygiene at Livingstone College in England. We studied the structure of parasites. All our samples were dead, but I wanted to see a living amoeba. Early one morning, while the laboratory was not yet filled with noisy crowds of students, I sneaked into our research building. It was an imposing red brick building located next to a pond. From this pond I scooped up water with a mug. Scraps of last year's leaves floated on the muddy surface, and it smelled of rot.

I put a drop of water on a piece of glass and put it under the microscope - and then the universe opened up before me. Before my eyes there was a pandemonium of hundreds of microorganisms: tiny single-celled spherical crystals were breathing, turning over, moving from place to place. They were set in motion by the heat emanating from the microscope bulb. I moved the glass a little, observing the rapidly moving microorganisms. Yeah, that's what I need. Right in front of me was an amoeba - a translucent, thin, blue-tinged sliver. It could be seen with the naked eye. But the microscope allowed her to look inside.

What do believers ask for when reading the prayer Psalm 138

The inscription to the text of Psalm 138, present in the Greek, Latin and Hebrew Bibles, clearly indicates that this song was written by the king and psalmist David. Despite the fact that in the text there is no indication of the reason for its writing, the sublimely grateful tone suggests that it was the transfer of the most important shrine of the Jews - the Icon of the Covenant - to the Jerusalem tabernacle, which for a long time replaced a full-fledged temple for the Jews. The interpretation of Psalm 138 explains that the name of the last prophet Zechariah, added to the name of David in the translation of the Seventy, indicates that it was during this period that the psalm was especially widespread among the people.