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.