Psalm 139:11
New International Version
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

New Living Translation
I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—

English Standard Version
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”

Berean Standard Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

King James Bible
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

New King James Version
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;

New American Standard Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”

NASB 1995
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”

NASB 1977
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”

Legacy Standard Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will bruise me, And the light around me will be night,”

Amplified Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, And the night will be the only light around me,”

Christian Standard Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night” —

Holman Christian Standard Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night"—

American Standard Version
If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, And the light about me shall be night;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
You have said, "The darkness will shine to me and the night will shine upon my face."

Brenton Septuagint Translation
When I said, Surely the darkness will cover me; even the night was light in my luxury.

Contemporary English Version
Or suppose I said, "I'll hide in the dark until night comes to cover me over."

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.

English Revised Version
If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, and the light about me shall be night;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
If I say, "Let the darkness hide me and let the light around me turn into night,"

Good News Translation
I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night,

International Standard Version
If I say, "Darkness will surely conceal me, and the light around me will become night,"

JPS Tanakh 1917
And if I say: 'Surely the darkness shall envelop me, And the light about me shall be night';

Literal Standard Version
And I say, “Surely darkness bruises me,” | Then night [is] light to me.

Majority Standard Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

New American Bible
If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light” —

NET Bible
If I were to say, "Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,"

New Revised Standard Version
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”

New Heart English Bible
If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night;"

Webster's Bible Translation
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

World English Bible
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”

Young's Literal Translation
And I say, 'Surely darkness bruiseth me, Then night is light to me.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
You Have Searched Me and Known Me
10even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast. 11If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”— 12even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.…

Cross References
Job 22:13
Yet you say: 'What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?

Job 34:22
There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.


Treasury of Scripture

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

surely

Psalm 10:11-13
He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it

Psalm 94:7
Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

Job 22:12-14
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! …

even the night

Job 12:22
He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

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Bruiseth Cover Covered Dark Darkness Hide Light Night Overwhelm Surely
Psalm 139
1. David praises God for his all-seeing providence
17. And for this infinite mercies
19. He defies the wicked
23. He prays for sincerity














(11) If I say . . .--Rather,

I say only let darkness crush me,

And light become night around me.

Commentators have mostly been frightened by the metaphor in the first line, though it has been preserved both by the LXX. and Vulg., and can only be avoided either by forcing the meaning of the verb from what it bears in Genesis 3:15, Job 9:17, or altering the text. Yet the Latins could speak even in prose of a region "oppressed by darkness" (Sen. Ep. 82); and when night was used as figurative of death, nocte premi was a common poetical figure. Indeed, the word rendered darkness here is actually, in Psalm 88:6, used of death, and if we understood this figure here we might render the word trample, illustrating by Horace

"Jam te premet nox fabulaeque Manes."

Such a view would suit the thought to which the poet immediately passes--to God the darkness of death and the nothingness before birth are alike. On the other hand, as the main thought is that nowhere is there escape from God's sight in height, or depth, or distance so to exhaust the possibilities we seem to need, darkness. . . .

Verses 11, 12. - If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. If I think to escape thee by plunging into darkness, and say to myself, "Surely the darkness shall screen me, and night take the place of light about me," so that I cannot be seen, even then my object is not accomplished; even the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day. Thy essential light penetrates every dark place, and makes the deepest gloom as radiant as the brightest sunshine. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee; literally, as the darkness, so the light; but the paraphrase of the Authorized Version gives the true sense.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
If I say,
וָ֭אֹמַר (wā·’ō·mar)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“Surely
אַךְ־ (’aḵ-)
Adverb
Strong's 389: A particle of affirmation, surely

the darkness
חֹ֣שֶׁךְ (ḥō·šeḵ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

will hide me,
יְשׁוּפֵ֑נִי (yə·šū·p̄ê·nî)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | first person common singular
Strong's 7779: To gape, snap at, to overwhelm

and the light
א֣וֹר (’ō·wr)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 216: Illumination, luminary

become night
וְ֝לַ֗יְלָה (wə·lay·lāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3915: A twist, night, adversity

around me”—
בַּעֲדֵֽנִי׃ (ba·‘ă·ḏê·nî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 1157: In up to, over against, at, beside, among, behind, for


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OT Poetry: Psalm 139:11 If I say Surely the darkness will (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 139:10
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