Psalms 139

1 For the end, a Psalm of David. O Lord, you have proved me, and known me.

To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.

2 You know my down-sitting and mine up-rising: you understand my thoughts long before.

You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.

3 You have traced my path and my bed, and have foreseen all my ways.

You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.

4 For there is no unrighteous word in my tongue: behold, O Lord, you have known all things,

For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.

5 the last and the first: you have fashioned me, and laid your hand upon me.

I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.

6 The knowledge of you is too wonderful for me; it is very difficult, I can’t [attain] to it.

Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.

7 Whither shall I go from your Spirit? and whither shall I flee from my presence?

Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?

8 If I should go up to heaven, you are there: if I should go down to hell, you are present. (Sheol h7585)

If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there. (Sheol h7585)

9 If I should spread my wings [to fly] straight forward, and sojourn at the extremity of the sea, [it would be vain],

If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea;

10 for even there your hand would guide me, and your right hand would hold me.

Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me.

11 When I said, Surely the darkness will cover me; even the night [was] light in my luxury.

If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night;

12 For darkness will not be darkness with you; but night will be light as day: as its darkness, so shall its light [be to you].

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.

13 For you, O Lord, have possessed my reins; you have helped me from my mother's womb.

My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.

14 I will give you thanks; for you are fearfully wondrous; wondrous are your works; and my soul knows [it] well.

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.

15 My bones, which you made in secret were not hidden from you, nor my substance, in the lowest parts of the earth.

My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unwrought [substance], and all [men] shall be written in your book; they shall be formed by day, though [there should for a time] be no one amongst them.

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.

17 But your friends, O God, have been greatly honoured by me; their rule has been greatly strengthened.

How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!

18 I will number them, and they shall be multiplied beyond the sand; I awake, and am still with you.

If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would kill the wicked, O God; depart from me, you men of blood.

If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.

20 For you will say concerning [their] thought, [that] they shall take your cities in vain.

For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name.

21 Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hate you? and wasted away because of your enemies?

Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me?

22 I have hated them with perfect hatred; they were counted my enemies.

My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.

23 Prove me, O God, and know my heart; examine me, and know my paths;

O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:

24 and see if [there is any] way of iniquity in me, and lead me in an everlasting way.

See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.