Psalms 139

The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God

For the choir director. A psalm of David.

1 Lord, you have searched me and known me.  * 139:1 Ps 17:3; 44:21; Jr 12:3

2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;

you understand my thoughts from far away.  * 139:2 2Kg 19:27; Is 66:18; Mt 9:4

3 You observe my travels and my rest;

you are aware of all my ways.  * 139:3 Jb 14:16; 31:4

4 Before a word is on my tongue,

you know all about it,  Lord.  * 139:4 Heb 4:13

5 You have encircled me;

you have placed your hand on me.  * 139:5 Jb 9:33; Ps 125:2

6 This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.

It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.  * 139:6 Jb 42:3; Rm 11:33

7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?  * 139:7 Jr 23:24

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;  * 139:8 Am 9:2–4

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  * 139:8 Jb 26:6; Is 14:11

9 If I fly on the wings of the dawn

and settle down on the western horizon,  * 139:9 Lit the end of the sea

10 even there your hand will lead me;

your right hand will hold on to me.  * 139:9–10 Ps 23:2–3

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me,

and the light around me will be night"  * 139:11 Jb 22:13–14  —

12 even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night shines like the day;

darkness and light are alike to you.  * 139:12 Jb 34:22; Dn 2:22

13 For it was you who created my inward parts;  * 139:13 Lit my kidneys

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  * 139:13 Jb 10:11; Ps 119:73

14 I will praise you

because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.  * 139:14 DSS, some LXX mss, Syr, Jer read because you are remarkable and wonderful,* 139:14 Hb obscure

Your works are wondrous,

and I know this very well.  * 139:14 Ps 40:5

15 My bones were not hidden from you

when I was made in secret,

when I was formed in the depths of the earth.  * 139:15 Jb 10:8–10; Ps 63:9; Ec 11:5

16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;

all my days were written in your book and planned

before a single one of them began.  * 139:16 Jb 14:5

17 God, how precious  * 139:17 Or difficult your thoughts are to me;

how vast their sum is!

18 If I counted them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;  * 139:17–18 Ps 40:5; 92:5

when I wake up,  * 139:18 Some Hb mss read I come to an end I am still with you.  * 139:18 Ps 3:5

19 God, if only you would kill the wicked —

you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me  * 139:19 Ps 5:6; 6:8; Is 11:4  —

20 who invoke you deceitfully.

Your enemies swear by you falsely.  * 139:20 Ex 20:7; Jd 15

21 Lord, don’t I hate those who hate you,

and detest those who rebel against you?

22 I hate them with extreme hatred;

I consider them my enemies.  * 139:21–22 Ps 26:5; 31:16

23 Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.  * 139:23 Jb 31:6; Ps 26:2

24 See if there is any offensive  * 139:24 Or idolatrous  way in me;

lead me in the everlasting way.  * 139:24 Ps 16:11