Psalms 139:4,5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

There is not a word in my tongue, &c. Thou knowest what I speak, and with what design and disposition of mind. There is not a vain word, not a good word, but thou knowest it altogether What it means, what thought gives birth to it, and with what intention it is uttered. Or, as others render the clause, When there is not a word, &c.; thou knowest what I am about to speak, either in prayer to thee, or in conversation with men, when I have not yet uttered one word of it. Thou hast beset me behind and before With thine all-seeing and all-disposing providence; so that, go which way I will, I am under thine eyes, and cannot escape its penetrating view in any way possible; and laid thy hand upon me Thou keepest me, as it were, with a strong hand, in thy sight, and under thy power.