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Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

 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 down
and 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 morning
and 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.^[a]
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.^[b]
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!^[c]
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting!^[d]

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 139:14 Or for I am fearfully set apart
2. Psalm 139:20 Hebrew lacks your name
3. Psalm 139:23 Or cares
4. Psalm 139:24 Or in the ancient way (compare Jeremiah 6:16)

Cross references:

1. Psalm 139:1 : Jer. 12:3; See Ps. 7:9; 17:3; 44:21
2. Psalm 139:2 : 2 Kgs. 19:27; Lam. 3:63
3. Psalm 139:2 : [Job 14:16; 31:4; Matt. 9:4; John 2:24, 25]
4. Psalm 139:4 : Heb. 4:13
5. Psalm 139:5 : Job 19:8
6. Psalm 139:5 : Job 9:33
7. Psalm 139:6 : Rom. 11:33
8. Psalm 139:6 : Job 42:3
9. Psalm 139:7 : [Jer. 23:24]
10. Psalm 139:7 : Jonah 1:3
11. Psalm 139:8 : [Amos 9:2]
12. Psalm 139:8 : [Job 26:6]
13. Psalm 139:10 : ver. 24; Ps. 23:3
14. Psalm 139:11 : [Job 22:14]
15. Psalm 139:12 : Job 34:22; [Dan. 2:22]
16. Psalm 139:13 : Deut. 32:6
17. Psalm 139:13 : [Job 10:11]
18. Psalm 139:14 : See Ps. 72:18
19. Psalm 139:15 : [Job 10:8-10; Eccles. 11:5]
20. Psalm 139:15 : Ps. 63:9
21. Psalm 139:16 : Ps. 56:8
22. Psalm 139:17 : Ps. 92:5
23. Psalm 139:18 : Ps. 40:5
24. Psalm 139:18 : Gen. 22:17
25. Psalm 139:19 : Isa. 11:4; [Ps. 9:17]
26. Psalm 139:19 : Ps. 5:6
27. Psalm 139:19 : See Ps. 6:8
28. Psalm 139:20 : [Jude 15]
29. Psalm 139:20 : Ex. 20:7
30. Psalm 139:21 : See Ps. 26:5
31. Psalm 139:21 : Ps. 119:158
32. Psalm 139:21 : Ps. 59:1
33. Psalm 139:23 : Ps. 26:2
34. Psalm 139:24 : ver. 10
35. Psalm 139:24 : [Jer. 6:16; 18:15]