Psalm 139:15

Hebrew Bible

13 Certainly you made my mind and heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. You knew me thoroughly; 15 my bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret and sewed together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. All the days ordained for me were recorded in your scroll before one of them came into existence. 17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total.

Job 10:11

Hebrew Bible

9 Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust? 10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12 You gave me life and favor, and your intervention watched over my spirit. 13 “But these things you have concealed in your heart; I know that this is with you:

 Notes and References

"... The next block in our psalm (verses 13-16) is a strange and fascinating representation of creational beliefs unheard of in the Genesis stories. Is this passage meant to provide reasons for why God has so much knowledge and power in relation to his creatures? Verse 13 is a motive clause introduced with 'because.' God has 'formed' or 'created' (compare Genesis 4:1; 14:19, 22) the adorant's kidneys, and he has 'woven me in my mother's womb' (compare Job 10:11). Verse 14 is an interjected thanksgiving line with the characteristic formula 'I do thank you' - the response of the creature to its creator (compare Psalm 18:50; 35:18; 52:11; 57:10; 118:21; 119:7; 138:1; etc., mostly used as a response to specific divine favors). Thereafter, verse 15-16 spell out the significance of this insight, and, indeed, all statements are in the line of the preceding affirmations (verses 1-12) about God's knowing and being present even before the time of birth and effectively so all over the world. Again, individual formulations are extraordinary in comparison to other creational reports. Thus the psalmist maintains, 'my bones were not hidden from you' (verse 15a), 'I was made in a secret location' (verse 15b), 'I was stamped in the depths of the earth' (verse 15c). Each of these phrases has the quality of a confessional statement. How are we able to account for this type of discourse? Appeals for personal rescue and affirmations of having been saved by God's intervention abound in individual complaints and thanksgivings (compare 3:8; 7:7; 13:4; 17:13; 30:2-4; 40:3). But personal confessions of having been created by God are rare in most Old Testament literature ..."

Gerstenberger, Erhard Psalms. Part 2, and Lamentations (p. 403) Eerdmans, 2001

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