Verse

Psalm 139:12

ESV even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
NIV even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
NASB Even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
CSB even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.
NLT but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
KJV Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
NKJV Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

What does Psalm 139:12 mean?

God can see clearly through the darkness as though it were bright light. Nothing obscures His vision. He sees both sin and suffering distinctly. He notices what we do, whether it's righteous or sinful (Hebrews 4:13). He sees our situations, whether they are happy or desperate (Romans 8:35–39).

In the garden of Eden God saw Adam and Eve's sin as well as the guilty couple themselves. They tried to hide from God's presence, but their attempt was futile (Genesis 3:8–9). When Cain murdered his brother Abel, the Lord told Cain, "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). When civilization became thoroughly corrupt in the days before the flood, "the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth" (Genesis 6:5).

But God also sees our suffering. He saw the suffering of the Hebrews in Egypt. In Exodus 3:7 we read the Lord's words: "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt." In his first letter to persecuted, suffering believers the apostle Peter wrote: "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:12).
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