John Gill Commentary Psalms 139:16

"Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, [Even] the days that were ordained [for me], When as yet there was none of them." — Psalms 139:16 (ASV)

Your eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect
The word ^F17 for "substance" signifies a bottom of yarn wound up, or any rude or unformed lump; and designs that conglomerated mass of matter separated in the womb, containing all the essentials of the human frame, but not yet distinguished or reduced into any form or order; yet, even when in this state, the eyes of the Lord see it and all its parts distinctly;

and in your book all [my members] were written: [which] in continuance
were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them ;
in the book of God's eternal mind, and designs, the plan of the human body was drawn, all the parts of it described, and their form, places, and uses fixed, even when as yet not one of them was in actual being; but in due time they are all exactly formed and fashioned according to the model of them in the mind of God; who has as perfect knowledge of them beforehand as if they were written down in a book before him,

Or "in your book are written all [of them], what days they should be fashioned"; not only each of the members of the body were put down in this book, but each of the days in which they should be formed and come into order: "when" as yet there was "none of them"; none of those days, before they took place, even before all time;

the Targum is,``in the book of your memory all my days are written, in the day the world was created, from the beginning that all creatures were created.''

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FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (ymlg) "informe meum", Montanus; "glomus meam", Michaelis.