| 1. | For the leader. A psalm of David. I LORD, you have probed me, you know me: |
| 2. | you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. |
| 3. | My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar. |
| 4. | Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all. |
| 5. | Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me. |
| 6. | Such knowledge is beyond me, far too lofty for me to reach. |
| 7. | Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee? |
| 8. | If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too. |
| 9. | If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea, |
| 10. | Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast. |
| 11. | If I say, "Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light" -- |
| 12. | Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one. |
| 13. | You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. |
| 14. | I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; |
| 15. | my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. |
| 16. | Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be. |
| 17. | How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them! |
| 18. | Were I to count, they would outnumber the sands; to finish, I would need eternity. |
| 19. | If only you would destroy the wicked, O God, and the bloodthirsty would depart from me! |
| 20. | Deceitfully they invoke your name; your foes swear faithless oaths. |
| 21. | Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe? |
| 22. | With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own. |
| 23. | Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my concerns. |
| 24. | See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths. |
