Psalms 139:8

Literal Standard Version

If I ascend the heavens—You [are] there, || And spread out a bed in Sheol, behold, You!

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If I go up to heaven, you are there;if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

Hebrew Names Version
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in She'ol, behold, you are there!

King James Version
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

English Standard Version
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

New Century Version
If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there.

New English Translation
If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.

Amplified Bible
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there.

New American Standard Bible
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

World English Bible
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!

Geneva Bible (1587)
If I ascende into heauen, thou art there: if I lye downe in hell, thou art there.

Legacy Standard Bible
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

Berean Standard Bible
If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

Contemporary English Version
If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there.

Complete Jewish Bible
If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I lie down in Sh'ol, you are there.

Darby Translation
If I ascend up into the heavens thou art there; or if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou [art there];

Easy-to-Read Version
If I go up to heaven, you will be there. If I go down to the place of death, you will be there.

George Lamsa Translation
If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into Sheol, behold, thou art there also.

Good News Translation
If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.

Lexham English Bible
If I ascend to heaven, there you are, and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.

Literal Translation
If I go up to Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there !

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf I take the wynges of the mornynge, & remayne in the vttemost parte of the see:

American Standard Version
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.

Bible in Basic English
If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in the nether-world, behold, Thou art there.

King James Version (1611)
If I ascend vp into heauen, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If I ascende vp into heauen, thou art there: if I lay me downe in hell, thou art there also.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
If I should go up to heaven, thou art there: if I should go down to hell, thou art present.

English Revised Version
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If Y schal stie in to heuene, thou art there; if Y schal go doun to helle, thou art present.

Update Bible Version
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there: If I make my bed in Sheol, look, you are there.

Webster's Bible Translation
If I ascend into heaven, thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art there].

New King James Version
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

New Living Translation
If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.

New Life Bible
If I go up to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in the place of the dead, You are there!

New Revised Standard
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If I ascend the heavens, there, thou art! If I spread out hades as my couch, behold thee!

Douay-Rheims Bible
(138-8) If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.

Revised Standard Version
If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!

Young's Literal Translation
If I ascend the heavens -- there Thou [art], And spread out a couch in Sheol, lo, Thee!

New American Standard Bible (1995)
If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

Contextual Overview

⁷To where do I go from Your Spirit? And to where do I flee from Your face? ⁸If I ascend the heavens—You [are] there, || And spread out a bed in Sheol, behold, You!⁹I take the wings of morning, || I dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, ¹⁰Also there Your hand leads me, || And Your right hand holds me. ¹¹And I say, "Surely darkness bruises me," || Then night [is] light to me. ¹²Also darkness does not hide from You, || And night shines as day, || As [is] darkness so [is] light. ¹³For You have possessed my reins, || You cover me in my mother's belly. ¹⁴I confess You, because I have been fearfully distinguished. Your works [are] wonderful, || And my soul is knowing [it] well. ¹⁵My substance was not hid from You, || When I was made in secret, || Curiously worked in the lower part of earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance, || And all of them are written on Your scroll, || The days they were formed—And not one among them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I ascend: Ezekiel 28:12-17, Amos 9:2-4, Obadiah 1:4

in hell: Job 26:6, Job 34:21, Job 34:22, Proverbs 15:11, Jonah 2:2

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:18 - they removed Job 17:13 - I have made Psalms 16:10 - my Jeremiah 51:53 - mount Ezekiel 32:25 - set her

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there,.... No man hath ascended or can ascend to heaven of himself; it is an hyperbolical expression, as are those that follow; none but Christ has ascended to heaven by his own power, who descended from it; saints hope to go there at death, and, when they do, they find God there; that is his habitation, his throne is there, yea, that is his throne; here he keeps court and has his attendants, and here he will be seen and enjoyed by his people to all eternity;

if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art there]; which, if understood of the place of the damned, is a place of torment, and a very unfit one to make a bed in, being a lake burning with fire and brimstone; and where the smoke of their torment ascends for ever, and they have no rest day nor night; their worm never dies, and their fire is not quenched; and even here God is: hell is not only naked before him, and all its inhabitants in his view; but he is here in his powerful presence, keeping the devils in chains of darkness; turning wicked men daily into it, pouring out his wrath upon them, placing and continuing an unpassable gulf between them and happy souls: though rather this is to be understood of the grave, in which sense the word is often used; and so Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and Arama, interpret it of the lowest parts of the earth, as opposed to heaven; the grave is a bed to the saints, where they lie down and rest, and sleep till the resurrection morn, Job 14:12; and here the Lord is watching over and keeping their dust, and will raise it up again at the last day. The Targum is,

"there is thy Word.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If I ascend up into heaven - The word “heaven” here, in the original is in the plural number - “heavens,” - and includes all that there is above the earth - the highest worlds.

If I make my bed - Properly, “If I strew or spread my couch.” If I should seek that as the place where to lie down.

In hell - Hebrew, “Sheol.” See the notes at Isaiah 14:9, where the word is fully explained. The word here refers to the under-world - the abodes of the dead; and, in the apprehension of the psalmist, corresponds in depth with the word “heaven” in height. The two represent all worlds, above and below; and the idea is, that in neither direction, above or below, could he go where God would not be.

Thou art there - Or, more emphatically and impressively in the original, “Thou!” That is, the psalmist imagines himself in the highest heaven, or in the deepest abodes of the dead - and lo! God is there also! he has not gone from “him”! he is still in the presence of the same God!

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 139:8. If I ascend — Thou art in heaven, in thy glory; in hell, in thy vindictive justice; and in all parts of earth, water, space, place, or vacuity, by thy omnipresence. Wherever I am, there art thou; and where I cannot be, thou art there. Thou fillest the heavens and the earth.