Psalms 139

You have searched me and know me

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.a ²You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.b ³You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.c

⁴Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. ⁵You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.d ⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.e

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?f ⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.g ⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.h

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”i ¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.j ¹³For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.k

¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.l ¹⁵My 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.m ¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.n

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!o ¹⁸Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.p ¹⁹If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

²⁰They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. ²¹Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?q ²²I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

²³Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.r ²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.s