Berean Standard Bible
For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.
King James Version
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
About this verse
The craftsman's verb is the one to sit with: "You knit me together in my mother’s womb." Knitting is slow, deliberate, one stitch at a time — nothing about it is mass production. And notice where the work happens: in the hidden place, before anyone else knew you existed. The psalmist's response is worship: "I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" — fearfully meaning with awe, the way you handle something of alarming value.
This is David's psalm about being fully known — it opens with God having searched him, knowing his sitting and rising, hemming him in behind and before. Verses 13–14 supply the reason such total knowledge doesn't terrify: God knows David the way a maker knows a made thing. The knowledge is a craftsman's, not a surveillance officer's. And the closing line moves the truth from doctrine to settled conviction: "I know this very well."
People quote these verses on questions of human worth and dignity from the womb onward, and they hold that weight. For the reader who suspects they are an accident, a disappointment, or a rough draft, the verse's answer is a signature: you were deliberately made, in detail, by someone who was paying attention the whole time.
This verse speaks to
Related verses
A verse each morning
One verse, chosen with care, in your inbox at sunrise. Nothing else.
Free. No spam, ever. Unsubscribe any time.