Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 139:7

Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?

5You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
6This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.
7Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 139:6Psalm 139:8 →
Notice

“Flee” makes God's presence sound inescapable, leaving room for both the comfort of never being beyond him and the unease of being unable to hide.

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

What changes for you when the verse moves from “go” to “flee”?

Write on this

What response rises in you at the thought of having no place beyond God's presence?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

6 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
Jeremiah 23:23–24“Am I a God at hand,” says the LORD, “and not a God afar off?Both passages challenge the thought that distance could put someone beyond God, whether he is spoken of as near or far.
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.The psalm asks about fleeing God's presence, while Jeremiah asks about hiding from the God who fills heaven and earth.
Jonah 1:3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went …Jonah attempts the flight the psalm asks about: he boards a ship to flee from the presence of the LORD.
Jonah 1:10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had …Both texts speak of fleeing God's presence; Jonah's admission makes that flight known to the frightened men aboard the ship.
Matthew 2:19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,The psalm speaks of God's presence wherever someone goes; Matthew offers a narrower link, with God's messenger reaching Joseph in Egypt.
Jeremiah 43:8Then the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,The connection is limited to place: the psalm asks where God could be absent, and God's word reaches Jeremiah in Tahpanhes.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. fear for the future.

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

Something small to carry out of this verse

Tell God how his inescapable presence affects you

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

You do not have to force a sense of comfort from these questions. Their steady truth remains: no place takes you beyond God's presence.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 139:7. 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).