LORD, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting
down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts
from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting-places
and are acquainted
with all my ways.
Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,
but you, O LORD,
know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before
and lay your hand
upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that
I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go then from your Spirit?
where can I flee
from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave
my bed, you are there also.
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the
uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me
and your right hand
hold me fast.
If I say, Surely the darkness will cover me,
and the light around
me turn to night,
Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as
bright as the day;
darkness and light
to you are both alike.
For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together
in my mother's womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
your works are wonderful,
and I know it well.
My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being
made in secret
and woven in the
depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were
written in your book;
they were fashioned
day by day,
when as yet there
was none of them.
How deep I find your thoughts, O God!
how great is the
sum of them!
If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
to count them all,
my life span would need to be like yours.
Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God!
You that thirst
for blood, depart from me.
They speak despitefully against you;
your enemies take
your Name in vain.
Do I not hate those, O LORD, who hate you?
and do I not loathe
those who rise up against you?
I hate them with a perfect hatred;
they have become
my own enemies.
Search me out, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know
my restless thoughts.
Look well whether there be any wickedness in me
and lead me in the
way that is everlasting.