Psalm 139

You Have Searched Me and Known Me

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹O Yahweh, You have searched me

and known me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

³You search out my path and my lying down;

You are aware of all my ways.

⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,

You know all about it, O Yahweh.

⁵You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?

Where can I flee from Your presence?

⁸If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle by the farthest sea,

¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me;

Your right hand will hold me fast.

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

and the light become night around me”—

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You,

but the night shines like the day,

for darkness is as light to You.

¹³For You formed my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

• PS 139:13[NOTE]KNIT TOGETHER IN THE WOMB. God was at work in you before you were born. Many Christians point here to show that unborn life matters to God.

¹⁴I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

• PS 139:14[NOTABLE]God made you on purpose. Your worth comes from your Maker.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,

when I was woven together

in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be.

¹⁷How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God,

how vast is their sum!

¹⁸If I were to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

and when I awake,

I am still with You.

¹⁹O God, that You would slay the wicked—

away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

²⁰who speak of You deceitfully;

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

²¹Do I not hate those who hate You, O Yahweh,

and detest those who rise against You?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them as my enemies.

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

test me and know my concerns.

• PS 139:23[HEART]David asks God to search his heart and show him what is really there.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me;

lead me in the way everlasting.