Psalm 139

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

¹O Lord, you have examined my heart

and know everything about me.

²You know when I sit down or stand up.

You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.

³You see me when I travel

and when I rest at home.

You know everything I do.

⁴You know what I am going to say

even before I say it, Lord.

⁵You go before me and follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too great for me to understand!

⁷I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

⁸If I go up to heaven, you are there;

if I go down to the grave,^a you are there.

⁹If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

¹⁰even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

¹¹I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

¹²but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

¹⁵You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

¹⁶You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

¹⁷How precious are your thoughts about me,^b O God.

They cannot be numbered!

¹⁸I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

¹⁹O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!

Get out of my life, you murderers!

²⁰They blaspheme you;

your enemies misuse your name.

²¹O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?

Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?

²²Yes, I hate them with total hatred,

for your enemies are my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.