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For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

139 Yahweh, you have searched me,
    and you know me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up.
    You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down,
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
    but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
You hem me in behind and before.
    You laid your hand on me.
This knowledge is beyond me.
    It’s lofty.
    I can’t attain it.
Where could I go from your Spirit?
    Or where could I flee from your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
    If I make my bed in Sheol,[a] behold, you are there!
If I take the wings of the dawn,
    and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand will lead me,
    and your right hand will hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me.
    The light around me will be night,”
12 even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
    but the night shines as the day.
    The darkness is like light to you.

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Footnotes

  1. 139:8 Sheol is the place of the dead.

Psalm 139

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.

You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off.(A)

You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.(B)

You have beset me and shut me in—behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.

Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it.

Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.(C)

If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only] light about me,

12 Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.(D)

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