Psalms 139
1 Unto the end. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have examined me, and you have 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 have known my sitting down and my rising up again.
You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.
3 You have understood my thoughts from afar. My path and my fate, you have investigated.
You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.
4 And you have foreseen all my ways. For there is no word in my tongue.
For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.
5 Behold, O Lord, you have known all things: the newest and the very old. You have formed me, and you have placed your hand over me.
I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge has become a wonder to me. It has been reinforced, and I am not able to prevail against it.
Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.
7 Where will I go from your Spirit? And where will I flee from your face?
Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?
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 assume my feathers in early morning, and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea,
If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea;
10 even there, your hand will lead me forth, and your right hand will hold me.
Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me.
11 And I said: Perhaps darkness will overwhelm me, and the night will be my illumination, to my delight.
If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night;
12 But darkness will not be impenetrable to you, and night will illuminate like the day: for just as its darkness is, so also is its light.
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 have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother.
My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.
14 I will confess to you, for you have been magnified terribly. Your works are miraculous, as my soul knows exceedingly 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 bone, which you have made in secret, has not been hidden from you, and my substance is in accord with the lower 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 imperfection, and all this shall be written in your book. Days will be formed, and no one shall be in 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 to me, O God, your friends have been greatly honored. Their first ruler has been exceedingly strengthened.
How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
18 I will number them, and they will be more numerous than the sand. I rose up, and I 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 O God, if only you would cut down sinners. You men of blood: depart from me.
If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.
20 For you say in thought: They will accept 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 those who hated you, Lord, 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 a perfect hatred, and they have become enemies to me.
My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my heart. Question 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 might be in me the way of iniquity, and lead me in the way of eternity.
See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.
