Psalms 139
1 O lord, you have searched me, and known me.
For the music director. A psalm of David. Lord, you have examined me from the inside out—you know everything about me!
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up, you understand my thought afar off.
You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know what I'm thinking even when I'm a long way away.
3 You compass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
You observe where I go and when I rest. You're familiar with everything I do.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, see, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Lord, you even know what I'm going to say before I say it.
5 You have beset me behind and before, and laid your hand on me.
You're always there—behind me, in front of me, and all around me. You place your caring hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it.
This amazing knowledge you have is far beyond me, way beyond my understanding!
7 Where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence?
Where can I go that you're not already there? Where can I run to escape your presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. (Sheol h7585)
If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I lie down in Sheol, look—you are there too! (Sheol h7585)
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
If I were to fly away on wings of the dawn to the east; if I were to live on the far western shore of the sea,
10 Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
even there your hand would lead me, your right hand would support me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
If I asked the darkness to hide me, and light to become night around me,
12 Yes, the darkness hides not from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
Even darkness would not be dark for you, and the night would be bright as day, for darkness is like light to you.
13 For you have possessed my reins: you have covered me in my mother’s womb.
You made me from the inside out, shaping me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well.
I praise you for making me in such an awesome and wonderful way. What you do is incredible—I realize this completely!
15 My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously worked in the lowest parts of the earth.
My growing body was not hidden from you as I was formed in secret, as I was intricately put together “in the depths of the earth.”
16 Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
You saw me as an embryo, and in your book all my days were written down—the days that were made for me before any of them existed.
17 How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
God, your thoughts are so valuable to me! Taken together, they can't be counted!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with you.
If I tried to count them, they would be more than every grain of sand. Yet when I awake I am still with you.
19 Surely you will slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, you bloody men.
God, if you would only kill the wicked! Murderers, get away from me!
20 For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain.
When they speak of you they're being deceptively evil. Since they are your enemies, they call on you in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate you? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against you?
Lord, don't I hate those who hate you? I despise those who rebel against you!
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them my enemies.
I hate them with absolute hatred—they have become my enemies!
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Examine me carefully, God, so you can be sure of my true feelings. Check me out so you can know what I really think.
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Please show me if I'm following any kind of idol, and lead me along the path of eternal life.
