Psalms 139

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1  O  Lord, you have a searched me and known me!
 2 You b know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you c discern my thoughts from afar.
 3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
 4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O  Lord d you know it altogether.
 5 You e hem me in, behind and before,
and f lay your hand upon me.
 6  g Such knowledge is h too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
 7  i Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where j shall I flee from your presence?
 8  k If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
l If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
 9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
 10 even there your hand shall m lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
 11 If I say n “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
 12  o even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
 13  For you p formed my inward parts;
you q knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ▼
▼ Or  for I am fearfully set apart

s Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
 15  t My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in u the depths of the earth.
 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your v book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
 17  How precious to me are your w thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
 18  x If I would count them, they are more than y the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
 19  Oh that you would z slay the wicked, O God!
O aa men of blood, ab depart from me!
 20 They ac speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies ad take your name in vain. ▼
▼ Hebrew lacks  your name

 21  af Do I not hate those who hate you, O  Lord?
And do I not ag loathe those who ah rise up against you?
 22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.
 23  Search me, O God, and know my heart!
ai Try me and know my thoughts! ▼
▼ Or cares

 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and ak lead me in al the way everlasting! ▼
▼ Or  in the ancient way (compare Jeremiah 6:16)
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