1 O LORD , you have searched me
and you know me. |
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar. |
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways. |
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD . |
5 You hem me in-behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me. |
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain. |
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence? |
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths,1 139:8 Hebrew Sheol you are there. |
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea, |
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast. |
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me," |
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. |
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb. |
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. |
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, |
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be. |
17 How precious to2 139:17 Or concerning me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! |
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you. |
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! |
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name. |
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD ,
and abhor those who rise up against you? |
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies. |
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts. |
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. |
