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Psalm 139:11

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

9If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”
12even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
13For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
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← Psalm 139:10Psalm 139:12 →
Notice

Light turning to night captures the prospect of being overwhelmed, while the unfinished sentence leaves that prospect waiting for God's answer in the next verse.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What comes to mind when you picture the light around you becoming night?

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How does the next verse's account of God's sight challenge what darkness seems able to do?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

9 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Job 12:22He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.Both passages speak of darkness and light, with Job describing God uncovering what darkness conceals and the psalm's next verse affirming his sight.
Jeremiah 23:24Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him?” says the LORD. “Don’t I fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.Jeremiah's secret places and the psalm's darkness raise the same issue: whether anything can hide a person from God.
Psalm 94:7They say, “The LORD will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”Both passages record claims about concealment, though Psalm 94 voices others' denial of God's sight and Psalm 139 considers darkness.
Job 22:12–14“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!The shared thread is limited: Job's speaker points to heaven's height, while the psalm considers darkness in its account of God's presence.
Psalm 10:11–13He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”Psalm 10 records a claim that God will never see; Psalm 139 considers darkness before affirming that it cannot hide from him.
Numbers 32:23“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.Both passages concern the limits of concealment, though Numbers addresses sin being exposed and the psalm addresses darkness before God.
1 Kings 3:20She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.Night is the limited shared detail: the psalm imagines light becoming night, while Kings recounts a child being taken at midnight.
Job 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.Job describes Sheol as uncovered before God; the psalm's surrounding lines likewise deny that darkness can hide anything from him.
Isaiah 29:15Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from the LORD, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”Both passages address darkness and concealment from God, though Isaiah condemns hidden deeds while the psalm considers being overwhelmed.
Where this verse fits

Anxiety or panic. feeling distant from God. fear for the future.

What the Bible says about anxiety →What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about fear →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read verses 11 and 12 aloud together

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Encouragement

The thought of darkness overwhelming you receives an answer in the next verse. Your sight has limits; God's sight reaches through the night. Darkness cannot hide you from him.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 139:11. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 139 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).