Psalms 139
1 To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.
“To the chief musician, by David, a psalm.” O Lord! thou hast searched me through, and thou knowest [me].
2 You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.
Thou indeed knowest my sitting down and my rising up, thou understandest my thinking while yet afar off.
3 You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.
My walking and my lying down hast thou limited, and with all my ways art thou acquainted.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.
For, while there is not a word on my tongue, lo, thou, O Lord, knowest it entirely.
5 I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.
Behind and before hast thou hedged me in, and thou placest upon me thy hand.
6 Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.
Too wonderful is such knowledge for me: it is too exalted, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee away from thy presence?
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there. (Sheol h7585)
If I should ascend into heaven, thou art there; and if I should make my bed in the nether world, behold, thou art there. (Sheol h7585)
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea;
If I should lift up the wings of the morning-dawn, if I should dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:
10 Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me.
Even there would thy hand lead me, and thy right hand would seize hold of me.
11 If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night;
If I said, Surely darkness shall enshroud me, and into night [be turned] the light about me:
12 Even the dark is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day: for dark and light are the same to you.
Yet even darkness can obscure nothing from thee; but the night will shine like the day; both the darkness and the light are alike [to thee].
13 My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.
For thou possessest my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious.
I will thank thee therefore, that I am [so] fearfully [and] wonderfully made: wonderful are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.
My being was not concealed from thee, when I was made in secret, when I was [so to say] embroidered in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being.
My undeveloped substance did thy eyes see; and in thy book were all of them written down—the days which have been formed, while yet not one of them was here.
17 How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
And how precious are unto me thy thoughts, O God! how mightily great is their sum!
18 If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.
Should I count them, they would be more numerous than the sand: I awake, and I am still with thee.
19 If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.
If thou wouldst but slay the wicked, O God! and ye men of blood, depart from me.
20 For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name.
Who speak of thee for a wicked end, thy enemies, that bear [thy name] for a vain purpose.
21 Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me?
Behold, those that hate thee I ever hate, O Lord; and for those that rise up against thee do I feel loathing.
22 My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.
With the utmost hatred do I hate them: enemies are they become unto me.
23 O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:
Search me through, O God, and know my heart; probe me, and know my thoughts:
24 See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.
And see if there be a way of perverseness in me, and lead me on the way of eternity.
