Psalm 139

English Standard Version

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you have ^(A)searched me and known me!
²You ^(B)know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you ^(C)discern my thoughts from afar.
³You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, ^(D)you know it altogether.
⁵You ^(E)hem me in, behind and before,
    and ^(F)lay your hand upon me.
⁶^(G)Such knowledge is ^(H)too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷^(I)Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where ^(J)shall I flee from your presence?
⁸^(K)If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    ^(L)If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall ^(M)lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹If I say, ^(N)“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹²^(O)even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

¹³For you ^(P)formed my inward parts;
    you ^(Q)knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
^(R)Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵^(S)My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in ^(T)the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your ^(U)book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your ^(V)thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸^(W)If I would count them, they are more than ^(X)the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

¹⁹Oh that you would ^(Y)slay the wicked, O God!
    O ^(Z)men of blood, ^(AA)depart from me!
²⁰They ^(AB)speak against you with malicious intent;
    your enemies ^(AC)take your name in vain.^[b]
²¹^(AD)Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not ^(AE)loathe those who ^(AF)rise up against you?
²²I hate them with complete hatred;
    I count them my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart!
^(AG)Try me and know my thoughts!^[c]
²⁴And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and ^(AH)lead me in ^(AI)the way everlasting!^[d]