Such knowledge is Yahweh’s complete knowledge of the psalmist, and it is well to make this explicit. So Bible en français courant “That you know me to this degree is too wonderful for me.” The phrase too wonderful for me requires a complement, specifically “… for me to understand.” So Good News Translation has “is too deep”; New Jerusalem Bible is better, “is beyond me,” and New English Bible even better, “is beyond my understanding.”

This meaning of line a is made clear in line b, where the dimension high is applied to God’s knowledge of the psalmist. This may have to be modified in those languages where high does not fit with knowledge. For example, some other kind of dimension may supply the normal adjective, such as “deep,” “wide,” or “large.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .