“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.”
O Lord, you have searched me and known me. God's exhaustive knowledge of the psalmist's inner self becomes the opening claim; God has not merely observed externally but penetrated to the depths of being. Searched suggests active inquiry and exploration; known means comprehensive, intimate familiarity. This establishes that human interiority—thoughts, motivations, desires—lies fully open before God. The claim of being fully known creates both comfort and potential anxiety depending on whether one trusts God's judgment. This verse grounds the entire psalm in the assertion of God's omniscience.
Church Fathers on Psalms 139:1
1. ...Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks in the Prophets, sometimes in His own Name, sometimes in ours, because He makes Himself one with us; as it is said, “they two shall be one flesh.” Wherefore also the Lord says in the Gospel, speaking of marriage, “therefore they are no more two, but one flesh.” One flesh, because of our mortality He took flesh; not one divinity, for He is the Creator, we the creature. Whatsoever then our Lord speaks in the person of the Flesh He took upon…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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