| Chapter 139 |
1 | To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.
O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets. |
2 | You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away. |
3 | You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways. |
4 | For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord. |
5 | I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me. |
6 | Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it. |
7 | Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you? |
8 | If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there. |
9 | If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea; |
10 | Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me. |
11 | If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night; |
12 | Even the dark is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day: for dark and light are the same to you. |
13 | My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body. |
14 | I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious. |
15 | My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth. |
16 | Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being. |
17 | How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them! |
18 | If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you. |
19 | If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood. |
20 | For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name. |
21 | Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me? |
22 | My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me. |
23 | O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested: |
24 | See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way. |