Psalm 139:7
New International Version
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

New Living Translation
I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

English Standard Version
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

Berean Standard Bible
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

King James Bible
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

New King James Version
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

New American Standard Bible
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

NASB 1995
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

NASB 1977
Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence?

Legacy Standard Bible
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

Amplified Bible
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

Christian Standard Bible
Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

American Standard Version
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

Contemporary English Version
Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight?

English Revised Version
Whither shall I from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Where can I go [to get away] from your Spirit? Where can I run [to get away] from you?

Good News Translation
Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence?

International Standard Version
Where can I flee from your spirit? Or where will I run from your presence?

Majority Standard Bible
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

NET Bible
Where can I go to escape your spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence?

New Heart English Bible
Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

Webster's Bible Translation
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

World English Bible
Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
To where do I go from Your Spirit? And to where do I flee from Your face?

Young's Literal Translation
Whither do I go from Thy Spirit? And whither from Thy face do I flee?

Smith's Literal Translation
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? and whither from thy face shall I flee?
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?

Catholic Public Domain Version
Where will I go from your Spirit? And where will I flee from your face?

New American Bible
Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?

New Revised Standard Version
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Where shall I go from your Spirit and where shall I hide from before you?
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? and whither shall I flee from my presence?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
You Have Searched Me and Known 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.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 23:24
“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, observing the evil and the good.

Amos 9:2-4
Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down. / Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. / Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”

Job 34:21-22
For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step. / There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

1 Kings 8:27
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

Isaiah 66:1
This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?

Acts 17:27-28
God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. / ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, / neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Matthew 28:20
and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

John 14:16-17
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— / the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Ephesians 4:6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.


Treasury of Scripture

Where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence?

Jeremiah 23:23,24
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? …

Jonah 1:3,10
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD…

Acts 5:9
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Jump to Previous
Face Flee Flight Presence Spirit Whither
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Face Flee Flight Presence Spirit Whither
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














Where can I go
The phrase "Where can I go" suggests a quest for a place or state of being that is beyond the reach of God. The Hebrew root for "go" is "yalak," which often implies movement or journeying. This reflects the human desire to explore or escape, yet it acknowledges the futility of such attempts when it comes to God's omnipresence. Historically, this reflects the ancient understanding of God as not confined to a temple or a specific location, unlike the gods of surrounding nations.

to escape
The word "escape" comes from the Hebrew "barach," meaning to flee or run away. This implies a sense of urgency or desperation, highlighting the human inclination to hide from divine scrutiny. In a spiritual context, it underscores the futility of attempting to evade God's all-seeing eye, reminiscent of Jonah's flight from God's command.

Your Spirit
"Your Spirit" refers to the divine presence and power of God. The Hebrew word "ruach" is used here, which can mean breath, wind, or spirit. It signifies the life-giving and sustaining force of God that permeates all creation. In the Old Testament, God's Spirit is often associated with His active presence in the world, guiding, sustaining, and empowering His people.

Where can I flee
Similar to "escape," the phrase "Where can I flee" uses the Hebrew "nus," which means to take flight or retreat. This repetition emphasizes the theme of inescapability. It reflects the human condition of attempting to avoid accountability or confrontation with the divine, yet it also reassures believers of God's constant presence.

from Your presence?
"Your presence" is derived from the Hebrew "panim," which literally means "face." This term conveys the idea of being in the direct sight or attention of God. In biblical times, being before someone's face implied a personal and intimate encounter. Theologically, it reassures believers of God's intimate involvement in their lives, offering comfort and guidance. The rhetorical question posed by the psalmist serves to affirm the omnipresence of God, a foundational belief in conservative Christian theology that God is always near, always watching, and always caring for His creation.

(7) Spirit.--If this clause stood alone we should naturally understand by God's Spirit His creative and providential power, from which nothing can escape (comp. Psalm 104:30). But taken in parallelism with presence in the next clause the expression leads on to a thought towards which the theology of the Old Testament was dimly feeling, which it nearly reached in the Book of Wisdom. "The Spirit of the Lord filleth the world," but which found its perfect expression in our Saviour's announcement to the woman of Samaria.

Verse 7. - Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? The transition is now made from God's omniscience to God's omnipresence, ver. 5 having paved the way for it. God's presence is not to be escaped; his spirit is everywhere. "In him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). When Jonah sought to flee from his presence, he only found himself brought more absolutely and more perceptibly into his presence (comp. Jeremiah 23:24).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Where
אָ֭נָ֥ה (’ā·nāh)
Interrogative
Strong's 575: Where?, whither?, when?, hither and thither

can I go
אֵלֵ֣ךְ (’ê·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

to escape Your Spirit?
מֵרוּחֶ֑ךָ (mê·rū·ḥe·ḵā)
Preposition-m | Noun - common singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 7307: Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

Where
וְ֝אָ֗נָה (wə·’ā·nāh)
Conjunctive waw | Interrogative
Strong's 575: Where?, whither?, when?, hither and thither

can I flee
אֶבְרָֽח׃ (’eḇ·rāḥ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1272: To bolt, to flee suddenly

from Your presence?
מִפָּנֶ֥יךָ (mip·pā·ne·ḵā)
Preposition-m | Noun - common plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6440: The face


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OT Poetry: Psalm 139:7 Where could I go from your Spirit? (Psalm Ps Psa.)
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