Psalm 139

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Psalm 139[a]

The All-knowing and Ever-present God

1 For the leader. A psalm of David.

I

LORD, you have probed me, you know me:

2     you know when I sit and stand;[b]

    you understand my thoughts from afar.

3 You sift through my travels and my rest;

    with all my ways you are familiar.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

    LORD, you know it all.

5 Behind and before you encircle me

    and rest your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

    far too lofty for me to reach.

7 Where can I go from your spirit?

    From your presence, where can I flee?

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

    if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.

9 If I take the wings of dawn[c]

    and dwell beyond the sea,

10 Even there your hand guides me,

    your right hand holds me fast.

11 If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,

    and night shall be my light”[d]—

12 Darkness is not dark for you,

    and night shines as the day.

    Darkness and light are but one.

II

13 You formed my inmost being;

    you knit me in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;

    wonderful are your works!

    My very self you know.

15 My bones are not hidden from you,

When I was being made in secret,

    fashioned in the depths of the earth.[e]

16 Your eyes saw me unformed;

    in your book all are written down;

    my days were shaped, before one came to be.

III

17 How precious to me are your designs, O God;

    how vast the sum of them!

18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sands;

    when I complete them, still you are with me.

19 When you would destroy the wicked, O God,

    the bloodthirsty depart from me!

20 Your foes who conspire a plot against you

    are exalted in vain.

IV

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

    Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?

22 With fierce hatred I hate them,

    enemies I count as my own.

23 Probe me, God, know my heart;

    try me, know my thoughts.

24 See if there is a wicked path in me;

    lead me along an ancient path.