PSALM 139 [†] O LORD, you have  p searched me and known me!

2 You  q know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you  r discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O LORD,  s you know it altogether.

5[†] You  t hem me in, behind and before,

and  u lay your hand upon me.

6  v Such knowledge is  w too wonderful for me;

it is high; I cannot attain it.

7[†]  x Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where  y shall I flee from your presence?

8[†]  z If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

 a If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9 If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 even there your hand shall  b lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say,  c “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

12  d even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

13[†] For you  e formed my inward parts;

you  f knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14[†] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. [1]

 g Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

15[†]  h My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in  i the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your  j book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

17[†] How precious to me are your  k thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

18  l If I would count them, they are more than  m the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

19[†] Oh that you would  n slay the wicked, O God!

O  o men of blood,  p depart from me!

20 They  q speak against you with malicious intent;

your enemies  r take your name in vain. [2]

21  s Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?

And do I not  t loathe those who  u rise up against you?

22 I hate them with complete hatred;

I count them my enemies.

23[†] Search me, O God, and know my heart!

 v Try me and know my thoughts! [3]

24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and  w lead me in  x the way everlasting! [4]

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.