Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising - "my down-sitting," to rest after work, and "mine up-rising," to go to work (Psalms 127:2).
Thou understandest my thought afar off - whether I am at rest or at work, thou knowest how I think and feel, as well as how I act and speak. The clause "afar off" expresses that the wide distance between heaven, God's especial dwelling, and earth, our dwelling, does not in the least prevent, as unbelievers avowedly, or else unconsciously fancy, God's knowing the minutest thought of men here below. Compare the same phrase, Psalms 138:6; Jeremiah 23:23-24. Compare the Epicurean notion falsely attributed to Job 22:12-14: see notes.