You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you.
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My 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.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand —
when I awake, I am still with you.
¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139

O Lord, I’m like an open book to you;

You read my heart, my mind on every page:

I sit, I rise, I’m naked in your sight;

My every thought lies open to your gaze.

‘Tis not to judge, your burning eyes invade

My secret heart, for deeper love discerns

Your face reflected in the murky depths;

‘Tis you who for me, seeking, searching, yearns.

Unfath’mable your love, you go ahead,

You chart my path before me, and behind

You shelter me; no mother e’er so dear

Could care, like you, and hold me in her mind.

Before my mind has formed an unborn word

You know the mystery of unspoken speech;

Surrounded by your ever-present love,

I cannot wander far beyond your reach.

Your all-pervading Spirit covers me;

No matter where I go, my God is there:

If I would rise to heav’n, your dwelling place,

I find your presence infinitely near.

To hide my shame, I flee to hell’s domain,

But lo! Your gentle hand lays hold of me:

I ride the morning winds, but ‘tis your breath,

Your hand supports, traversing land and sea.

If I should think the darkness thick enough

To hide me from your penetrating sight,

How wrong I am, how comforting to know,

To you the night is just as bright as light.

You formed my substance in the secret place;

Within my mother’s womb you fashioned me:

A master craftsman, complex my design;

So thankful that you made me wondrously.

And overshadowed by your guiding hand,

No eyes but yours beheld this shapeless form;

How carefully you planned my earthly days

And wrote them in your book ere I was born.

How precious, Lord, to know I’m on your mind;

Your love, your thoughts surround me constantly;

I sleep, cocooned within your gentle arms:

I wake to find that you still think of me.

How hateful are your enemies, O God!

That they should miss the bliss of perfect trust:

Your enemies my enemies become;

I look on them with loathing and disgust.

O search me, let the passion of your eyes

Seek out the fear, anxiety subdue;

Show me the horror of my wicked ways

And let me walk in fervent love, with you.