The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God

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

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

you understand my thoughts from far away.

³You observe my travels and my rest;

you are aware of all my ways.

⁴Before a word is on my tongue,

you know all about it, Lord .

⁵You have encircled me;

you have placed your hand on me.

⁶This wondrous knowledge is beyond me.

It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.

⁷Where can I go to escape your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

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

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

⁹If I fly on the wings of the dawn

and settle down on the western horizon,

¹⁰even there your hand will lead me;

your right hand will hold on to me.

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

and the light around me will be night’ –

¹²even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night shines like the day;

darkness and light are alike to you.

¹³For it was you who created my inward parts;[#139:13 Lit my kidneys]

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I will praise you

because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. ,

Your works are wondrous,

and I know this very well.

¹⁵My bones were not hidden from you

when I was made in secret,

when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw me when I was formless;

all my days were written in your book and planned

before a single one of them began.

¹⁷God, how precious your thoughts are to me;[#139:17 Or difficult]

how vast their sum is!

¹⁸If I counted them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

when I wake up, I am still with you.

¹⁹God, if only you would kill the wicked –

you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me –

²⁰who invoke you deceitfully.

Your enemies swear by you falsely.

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

and detest those who rebel against you?

²²I hate them with extreme hatred;

I consider them my enemies.

²³Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me;[#139:24 Or idolatrous]

lead me in the everlasting way.