English Standard Version

Psalm 139 English Standard Version (ESV)

Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1. O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2. You know when I sit down and when I rise up;you discern my thoughts from afar.

3. You search out my path and my lying downand are acquainted with all my ways.

4. Even before a word is on my tongue,behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

5. You hem me in, behind and before,and lay your hand upon me.

6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;it is high; I cannot attain it.

7. Where shall I go from your Spirit?Or where shall I flee from your presence?

8. If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

9. If I take the wings of the morningand dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10. even there your hand shall lead me,and your right hand shall hold me.

11. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,and the light about me be night,”

12. even the darkness is not dark to you;the night is bright as the day,for darkness is as light with you.

13. For you formed my inward parts;you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;my soul knows it very well.

15. My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16. Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,the days that were formed for me,when as yet there was none of them.

17. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!How vast is the sum of them!

18. If I would count them, they are more than the sand.I awake, and I am still with you.

19. Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!O men of blood, depart from me!

20. They speak against you with malicious intent;your enemies take your name in vain.

21. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22. I hate them with complete hatred;I count them my enemies.

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

24. And see if there be any grievous way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting!