Psalms, 139

1. [For the choirmaster Of David Psalm] Yahweh, you examine me and know me,

1. <To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.> O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known [me].

2. you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my thoughts from afar.

2. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3. You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of my conduct.

3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted [with] all my ways.

4. A word is not yet on my tongue before you, Yahweh, know all about it.

4. For [there is] not a word in my tongue, [but], lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5. You fence me in, behind and in front, you have laid your hand upon me.

5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6. Such amazing knowledge is beyond me, a height to which I cannot attain.

6. [Such] knowledge [is] too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot [attain] unto it.

7. Where shall I go to escape your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence?

7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

8. If I scale the heavens you are there, if I lie flat in Sheol, there you are.

8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou [art there].

9. If I speed away on the wings of the dawn, if I dwell beyond the ocean,

9. [If] I take the wings of the morning, [and] dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

10. even there your hand will be guiding me, your right hand holding me fast.

10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

11. I will say, 'Let the darkness cover me, and the night wrap itself around me,'

11. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

12. even darkness to you is not dark, and night is as clear as the day.

12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light [are] both alike [to thee].

13. You created my inmost self, knit me together in my mother's womb.

13. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

14. For so many marvels I thank you; a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders. You knew me through and through,

14. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvellous [are] thy works; and [that] my soul knoweth right well.

15. my being held no secrets from you, when I was being formed in secret, textured in the depths of the earth.

15. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

16. Your eyes could see my embryo. In your book all my days were inscribed, every one that was fixed is there.

16. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [my members] were written, [which] in continuance were fashioned, when [as yet there was] none of them.

17. How hard for me to grasp your thoughts, how many, God, there are!

17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

18. If I count them, they are more than the grains of sand; if I come to an end, I am still with you.

18. [If] I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

19. If only, God, you would kill the wicked!-Men of violence, keep away from me!-

19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

20. those who speak blasphemously about you, and take no account of your thoughts.

20. For they speak against thee wickedly, [and] thine enemies take [thy name] in vain.

21. Yahweh, do I not hate those who hate you, and loathe those who defy you?

21. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22. My hate for them has no limits, I regard them as my own enemies.

22. I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

23. God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my concerns.

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24. Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin, and guide me on the road of eternity.

24. And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.