139:1 O LORD, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. |
139:2 You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. |
139:3 You sift {and} search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways. |
139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. |
139:5 You have beset me {and} shut me in--behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me. |
139:6 Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it. |
139:7 Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence? |
139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there. |
139:9 If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, |
139:10 Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. |
139:11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only] light about me, |
139:12 Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. |
139:13 For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb. |
139:14 I will confess {and} praise You {for You are fearful and wonderful and} for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. |
139:15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately {and} curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. |
139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. |
139:17 How precious {and} weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! |
139:18 If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You. |
139:19 If You would [only] slay the wicked, O God, and the men of blood depart from me-- |
139:20 Who speak against You wickedly, Your enemies who take Your name in vain! |
139:21 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And am I not grieved {and} do I not loathe those who rise up against You? |
139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred; they have become my enemies. |
139:23 Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! |
139:24 And see if there is any wicked {or} hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. |