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Psalm 139:23

Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

21LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
23Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
24See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
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Psalm 139:24 →
Notice

After declaring hatred for God’s enemies, David asks God to search his own heart, a turn that can unsettle confidence in your own judgments.

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What feels most exposed when you ask God to know your heart and thoughts?

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How does David’s turn from naming enemies to asking for examination challenge your judgments today?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 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
Psalm 26:2Examine me, LORD, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.Both prayers ask the LORD to examine and test the inward person, naming the heart and its thoughts.
Job 31:6(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);David asks God to search his heart; Job asks for an even balance so God may know his integrity.
1 Peter 1:7that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes, even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and …Testing links these passages: David asks to be tried, while Peter describes faith whose proof results in praise at Christ’s revelation.
Proverbs 17:3The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts.David asks God to try him and know his heart; Proverbs states that the LORD tests hearts.
Deuteronomy 8:2You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was …Both passages connect God’s testing with knowing what is in the heart; Deuteronomy names obedience as the wilderness test.
Psalm 139:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.The psalm opens by declaring that God has searched and known David, then returns to those same words in prayer.
Zechariah 13:9I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I …Both passages speak of God testing people, with Zechariah describing refinement through fire and a people who call on God.
Jeremiah 11:20But, LORD of Armies, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, I will see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause.Both passages address the LORD as the one who tests the inward person, naming the heart and thoughts or mind.
Malachi 3:2–3“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;The shared thread is testing: David asks to be tried, while Malachi describes a coming figure like a refiner’s fire.
Deuteronomy 8:16who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter …Both passages speak of God proving a person or people; Deuteronomy locates that proving in Israel’s wilderness dependence.
Job 34:21“For his eyes are on the ways of a man. He sees all his goings.Both passages concern God’s knowledge of a person: the psalm names inward thoughts, while Job names outward ways and actions.
Proverbs 12:5The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.Thoughts are the shared concern: David asks God to know his, while Proverbs describes the thoughts of the righteous as just.
Where this verse fits

Wanting a steady prayer habit. guilt and confession.

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One step

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Encouragement

Your understanding of your own heart has limits. This prayer entrusts its examination to God, whose knowledge of you reaches into your thoughts.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 139:23. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

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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).