You were put to the test, you can see now it was proving you, and you want to thank God that it's over.
If you take your trials as a testing of you, and want to give thanks once they are over, you have Psalm 139.
Letter to Marcellinus
Psalm 139
What St Athanasius said to pray when a hard test is over and you want to thank God, in a letter from the 300s.
- 24Verses
- 1Situation
St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus
When to pray it
In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. This is what he gave this one for.
24 verses, Berean Standard Bible
The whole psalm
Psalm 139
Its own heading For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
- 1O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- 2You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- 3You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.
- 4Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.
- 5You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.
- 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
- 7Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?
- 8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
- 9If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,
- 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.
- 13For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
- 14I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.
- 15My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
- 16Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
- 17How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
- 18If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
- 19O God, that You would slay the wicked— away from me, you bloodthirsty men—
- 20who speak of You deceitfully; Your enemies take Your name in vain.
- 21Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?
- 22I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my enemies.
- 23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
- 24See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139 is 138 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.
After God has brought you through
Close to this
- A time when God's anger was on you has passed, you're free again, and you want to give thanks.
- You've learned that God's judgment comes with mercy, and you want to draw near to Him.
- Your own people turned against you. You called on the Lord, He heard you, and now you want to thank Him.
- People were hunting you, and you've been rescued from them.
All 53 situations, in one guide.
Suggest a correction. Corrections that are applied are recorded in the public changelog.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.