Psalms 139:7
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence?
American King James Version (AKJV)
Where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence?
American Standard Version (ASV)
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?
Webster's Revision
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?
English Revised Version (ERV)
Whither shall I from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Definitions for Psalms 139:7
Clarke's Psalms 139:7 Bible Commentary
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? - Surely רוח ruach in this sense must be taken personally, it certainly cannot mean either breath or wind; to render it so would make the passage ridiculous.
From thy presence? - מפניך mippaneycha, "from thy faces." Why do we meet with this word so frequently in the plural number, when applied to God? And why have we his Spirit, and his appearances or faces, both here? A Trinitarian would at once say, "The plurality of persons in the Godhead is intended;" and who can prove that he is mistaken?
Barnes's Psalms 139:7 Bible Commentary
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? - Where shall I go where thy spirit is not; that is, where thou art not; where there is no God. The word "spirit" here does not refer particularly to the Holy Spirit, but to God "as" a spirit. "Whither shall I go from the all-pervading Spirit - from God, considered as a spirit?" This is a clear statement that God is a "Spirit" (compare John 4:24); and that, as a spirit, he is Omnipresent.
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? - Hebrew, From his face; that is, where he will not be, and will not see me. I cannot find a place - a spot in the universe, where there is not a God, and the same God. Fearful thought to those that hate him - that, much as they may wish or desire it, they can never find a place where there is not a holy God! Comforting to those that love him - that they will never be where they may not find a God - their God; that nowhere, at home or abroad, on land or on the ocean, on earth or above the stars, they will ever reach a world where they will not be in the presence of that God - that gracious Father - who can defend, comfort, guide, and sustain them.