---
title: "Psalm 139:13-16"
description: "David describes a continuous personal identity ('me', 'my') reaching back into the womb, and even to his 'unformed substance' (the earliest embryonic stage). God knows, forms, and ordains the days of the same person who is later praying — there is no point at which a non-person becomes a person; it…"
type: "scripture"
book: "Psalms"
chapter: 139
verses: "13-16"
translation: "NASB"
refutes: "Pro-choice framing"
affirms_abolition: false
themes:
  - "personhood"
  - "identity"
  - "God's knowledge"
  - "embryo"
  - "dignity"
  - "providence"
source_url: "https://www.abhortion.org/scripture/psalm-139-13-16.html"
---

# Psalm 139:13-16

Book of Psalms · Chapter 139

## The text

> For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
> — Psalm 139:13-16, NASB

**The claim this verse counters:** "The being in the womb is not yet a person with identity, dignity, or a future."

## The argument

David describes a continuous personal identity ('me', 'my') reaching back into the womb, and even to his 'unformed substance' (the earliest embryonic stage). God knows, forms, and ordains the days of the same person who is later praying — there is no point at which a non-person becomes a person; it is one life, known by God from the start.

## Context & notes

Supplement (not in the transcripts) — the classic personhood psalm and a cornerstone of the abolitionist scriptural case. 'Unformed substance' (Heb. golem) points to the embryo. The first-person continuity is the key argument: the worshiper and the embryo are the same 'I'.

## Themes

- personhood
- identity
- God's knowledge
- embryo
- dignity
- providence

## Discussion questions

1. David uses 'me' and 'my' to describe himself in the womb and even as 'unformed substance.' What does that continuity say about when personhood begins?
2. If God ordained the days of a life while that life was still an embryo, whose decision is it to end those days?

## Related

**Related scriptures:**

- [Jeremiah 1:5](jeremiah-1-5.md)
- [Luke 1:41-44](luke-1-41-44.md)
- [Psalm 51:5](psalm-51-5.md)
- [Genesis 9:6](genesis-9-6.md)

**Related arguments:**

- [The unborn bear the image of God, so abortion is murder — a different category than 'a hard choice'](../arguments/arg-image-of-God.md)
- [The science of embryology says a new human being exists from fertilization](../arguments/arg-embryology-conception.md)
- [“The unborn is not a baby or a person until birth (or until viability); personhood is…”](../arguments/def-not-a-person-until-birth.md)
- [“The early embryo is merely a clump of cells or a 'potential' human, not an actual human…”](../arguments/def-clump-of-cells.md)

## Sources

- [Quotes from Textbooks on Human Development](https://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/embryoquotes.html)
  Princeton Pro-Life — science compilation

## Attribution

Verse text is quoted from the NASB. Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org