Mazmur 139:6-8

139:6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;

it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. ¹ 

139:7 Where can I go to escape your spirit?

Where can I flee to escape your presence? ² 

139:8 If I were to ascend ³  to heaven, you would be there.

If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. ⁴ 

[139:6]  ¹ tn Heb “too amazing [is this] knowledge for me, it is elevated, I cannot attain to it.”

[139:7]  ² tn Heb “Where can I go from your spirit, and where from your face can I flee?” God’s “spirit” may refer here (1) to his presence (note the parallel term, “your face,” and see Ps 104:29-30, where God’s “face” is his presence and his “spirit” is the life-giving breath he imparts) or (2) to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).

[139:8]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).

[139:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “look, you.”