Psalm 139
Good News Translation
God's Complete Knowledge and Care[a]
139 Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2 You know everything I do;
from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3 You see me, whether I am working or resting;
you know all my actions.
4 Even before I speak,
you already know what I will say.
5 You are all around me on every side;
you protect me with your power.
6 Your knowledge of me is too deep;
it is beyond my understanding.
7 Where could I go to escape from you?
Where could I get away from your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there;
if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.
9 If I flew away beyond the east
or lived in the farthest place in the west,
10 you would be there to lead me,
you would be there to help me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
or the light around me to turn into night,
12 but even darkness is not dark for you,
and the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You created every part of me;
you put me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because you are to be feared;
all you do is strange and wonderful.
I know it with all my heart.
15 When my bones were being formed,
carefully put together in my mother's womb,
when I was growing there in secret,
you knew that I was there—
16 you saw me before I was born.
The days allotted to me
had all been recorded in your book,
before any of them ever began.
17 (A)O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;[b]
how many of them there are!
18 If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
19 O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked!
How I wish violent people would leave me alone!
20 They say wicked things about you;
they speak evil things against your name.[c]
21 O Lord, how I hate those who hate you!
How I despise those who rebel against you!
22 I hate them with a total hatred;
I regard them as my enemies.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my mind;
test me, and discover my thoughts.
24 Find out if there is any evil in me
and guide me in the everlasting way.[d]
Footnotes
- Psalm 139:1 HEBREW TITLE: A psalm by David.
- Psalm 139:17 how difficult I find your thoughts; or how precious are your thoughts to me.
- Psalm 139:20 Probable text they speak … name; Hebrew unclear.
- Psalm 139:24 the everlasting way; or the ways of my ancestors.
Psalm 139
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 139
The Inescapable God
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.(C)
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.(D)
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.(E)
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.(F)
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?(G)
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.(H)
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.(I)
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and night wraps itself around me,”[a](J)
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.(K)
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.(L)
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.(M)
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.(N)
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.[b]
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!(O)
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end[c]—I am still with you.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—(P)
20 those who speak of you maliciously
and lift themselves up against you for evil
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?(R)
22 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.(S)
24 See if there is any wicked[e] way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.[f](T)
Psalm 139
The Message
139 1-6 God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!
7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you’re there!
If I go underground, you’re there!
If I flew on morning’s wings
to the far western horizon,
You’d find me in a minute—
you’re already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.
13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!
23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson