Psalms 139:6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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Psalms 139:6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
What's often missed is that the psalmist isn't just saying God's knowledge is vast, but that the way God knows is utterly beyond human comprehension. It's not just a matter of more information, but a completely different mode of existence that leaves his own mind in awe.
The psalmist has been marveling at how intimately God knows him, even his thoughts and words before they are spoken. Now, faced with the vastness of God's all-knowing nature, he feels overwhelmed by its incomprehensible scope. This sense of wonder and inadequacy flows directly from the preceding verses where David explores the depth of divine knowledge concerning his own life.
When we try to wrap our minds around the depth of God's knowledge, it can feel like trying to hold water in our hands. The psalmist grapples with this profound mystery.
The Unfathomable Scope
The psalmist here expresses awe, not frustration, at God's knowledge. It's not just about knowing facts; it's about understanding essences, tendencies, and outcomes – a scope so vast it dwarfs human comprehension. When David says 'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,' he's acknowledging that the way God knows everything – past, present, future, hidden thoughts, and future possibilities – is simply beyond his capacity to fully grasp or explain. It's a divine attribute that humbles us.
Why It's 'Too Wonderful'
This 'wonderful knowledge' refers to God's complete and perfect understanding of all things. It includes:
It's 'high' and 'unreachable' because it transcends human reasoning and experience. We can believe it, but we can't fully comprehend it.
David isn't admitting defeat or a personal failing. Instead, his confession of inability points to a profound reverence for the divine.
Awe Over Annoyance
This isn't a statement of despair, but one of profound worship. The psalmist isn't saying, 'I'm so dumb, I can't figure this out!' He's saying, 'I'm so overwhelmed by the magnificence of God's knowledge that my mind simply stops. It's so far above me that it inspires awe, not frustration.'
Understand the original words
da'ath · Hebrew Noun
Refers to the intellectual grasp or cognitive apprehension of truth. In a theological sense, it often denotes God’s exhaustive, intimate, and divine perception of all things, including the thoughts and actions of humanity.
peli'iy · Hebrew Adjective
Generally implies something beyond ordinary human experience, miraculous, or difficult to comprehend. Biblically, it is often used to describe God's works or attributes that evoke awe and surpass human logic.
This passage echoes the psalmist's awe, emphasizing that God's judgments and ways are incomprehensible and unsearchable, just as the psalmist feels his knowledge of God's omniscience is beyond his grasp.
In this section, God challenges Job by asking a series of unanswerable questions about creation, demonstrating the vastness of divine knowledge and power that far surpasses human understanding, much like the psalmist's feeling of inadequacy.
This prophecy highlights the divine-human gap, stating that God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours, which directly relates to the psalmist's conclusion that this knowledge is too high for him to attain.
1 Corinthians 2:11This verse speaks to the depth of God's own knowledge, explaining that only the Spirit of God knows the things of God, reinforcing the idea that such profound knowledge is indeed beyond human capacity to fully comprehend.
pulpitPsalms 139:6: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
Verse 6. - Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. The psalmist does not say, "such knowledge," but simply "knowledge," i.e. real true knowledge, such as deserves the name. "The thought of God's omniscience makes him feel as if real knowledge were beyond his reach" (Kay).
clarkePsalms 139:6: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
Such knowledge is too wonderful - I think, with Kennicott, that פלאיה דעת pelaiah daath should be read פלאי הדעת peli haddaath, "This knowledge," ממני mimmenni, "is beyond or above me." This change is made by taking the ה he from the end of פלאיה pelaiah, which is really no word, and joining it with דעת daath; which, by giving it an article, makes it demonstrative, הדעת haddaath, "This knowledge.…
What's often missed is that the psalmist isn't just saying God's knowledge is vast, but that the way God knows is utterly beyond human comprehension. It's not just a matter of more information, but a completely different mode of existence that leaves his own mind in awe.
The psalmist has been marveling at how intimately God knows him, even his thoughts and words before they are spoken. Now, faced with the vastness of God's all-knowing nature, he feels overwhelmed by its incomprehensible scope. This sense of wonder and inadequacy flows directly from the preceding verses where David explores the depth of divine knowledge concerning his own life.
The psalmist has been marveling at how intimately God knows him, even his thoughts and words before they are spoken. Now, faced with the vastness of God's all-knowing nature, he feels overwhelmed by its incomprehensible scope. This sense of wonder and inadequacy flows directly from the preceding verses where David explores the depth of divine knowledge concerning his own life.
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The Limit of Reason
David recognizes the limitations of human intellect when confronted with the infinite. He understands that while God's knowledge is easy for God to possess, for humans to fully grasp its workings is impossible. This realization doesn't diminish David; it elevates his view of God. It's a healthy respect for divine sovereignty and omniscience.
"Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it." — What's often missed is that the psalmist isn't just saying God's knowledge is vast, but that the way God knows is utterly beyond human comprehension. It's not just a matter of more information, b…