You asked

how does this psalm's description of god's presence compare with passages about god dwelling in a temple?

Adds the setting and its conversation across both testaments.

Psalm 139:7-10

“Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.”

This psalm, attributed to David, is a meditation on God's omnipresence and omniscience. The psalmist expresses wonder and awe at the depth of God's knowledge and the inescapable nature of God's presence, whether in the highest heavens or the deepest parts of the earth or sea.

What does this passage suggest about the boundaries, if any, of where God can be found?

Then — the setting

Psalm 139 likely dates from the post-exilic period (after the 6th century BCE) or earlier, reflecting a mature theological understanding within Israel. The imagery of 'heaven' and 'Sheol' represents the full vertical extent of the cosmos as understood by ancient Israelites: heaven as the dwelling place of God and celestial beings, and Sheol as the realm of the dead. This psalm is a personal meditation, perhaps for worship or private reflection, contemplating the intimate and inescapable nature of God's being. While the Temple was central to Israelite worship as the localized dwelling place of God's presence, this psalm asserts a universal presence that transcends any physical structure, indicating that God is not confined.

Across the Testaments

This Old Testament psalm establishes God's omnipresence as a foundational attribute. While the Old Testament also features God's presence localized in the Tabernacle and later the Temple (e.g., Exodus 25:8, 1 Kings 8:10-11), passages like Psalm 139 and 1 Kings 8:27 show an awareness that such physical dwellings don't contain God. The New Testament affirms and expands on this. Jesus declares that true worship is not bound to a specific mountain or temple (John 4:21-24), and early Christian thought emphasizes that God no longer dwells exclusively in temples made with human hands (Acts 7:48, 17:24). Instead, the Holy Spirit indwells believers, making their bodies 'a temple of the Holy Spirit' (1 Corinthians 6:19), or even the community of believers collectively (Ephesians 2:21-22), shifting the concept of 'dwelling' from a physical building to a personal and communal spiritual reality, while never negating God's universal presence.

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

1 Kings 8:27
Solomon questions whether God, whom 'heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain,' could truly dwell in the Temple he built.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
God declares 'Am I a God at hand... and not a God far away?... Do I not fill heaven and earth?' emphasizing omnipresence.
Acts 17:24, 28
Paul teaches that 'God who made the world and all things in it... doesn't dwell in temples made with hands,' and 'in him we live, and move, and have our being.'

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