Psalms, 139

For the director. Of David. A melody.

¹ O Jehovah, you have searched through me, and you know [me].

² You yourself have come to know my sitting down and my rising up. You have considered my thought from far off.

³ My journeying and my lying outstretched you have measured off, And you have become familiar even with all my ways.

⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue, But, look! O Jehovah, you already know it all.

⁵ Behind and before, you have besieged me; And you place your hand upon me.

⁶ [Such] knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is so high up that I cannot attain to it.

⁷ Where can I go from your spirit,^*1 And where can I run away from your face?

⁸ If I should ascend to heaven, there you would be; And if I should spread out my couch in Sheʹol,^*1 look! you [would be there].

⁹ Were I to take the wings of the dawn, That I might reside in the most remote sea,

¹⁰ There, also, your own hand would lead me And your right hand would lay hold of me.

¹¹ And were I to say: “Surely darkness itself will hastily seize me!” Then night would be light about me.

¹² Even the darkness itself would not prove too dark for you, But night itself would shine just as the day does; The darkness might just as well be the light.^*1

¹³ For you yourself produced my kidneys; You kept me screened off in the belly of my mother.

¹⁴ I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, As my soul is very well aware.

¹⁵ My bones were not hidden from you When I was made in secret, When I was woven in the lowest parts^*1 of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw even the embryo of me, And in your book all its parts were down in writing, As regards the days when they were formed And there was not yet one among them.

¹⁷ So, to me how precious your thoughts are! O God,^*1 how much does the grand sum of them amount to!

¹⁸ Were I to try to count them, they are more than even the grains of sand. I have awaked,^*1 and yet I am still with you.

¹⁹ O that you, O God,^*1 would slay the wicked one! Then even the bloodguilty men^*2 will certainly depart from me,

²⁰ Who say things about you according to [their] idea; They have taken up [your name] in a worthless way—your adversaries.

²¹ Do I not hate those who are intensely hating you, O Jehovah, And do I not feel a loathing for those revolting against you?

²² With a complete hatred I do hate them. They have become to me real enemies.

²³ Search through me, O God,^*1 and know my heart. Examine me, and know my disquieting thoughts,

²⁴ And see whether there is in me any painful way, And lead me in the way of time indefinite.