You Have Searched Me and Known Me

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹ O LORD, You have searched me^*

and known me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;

You understand my thoughts from afar.

³ You search out my path and my lying down;

You are aware of all my ways.

⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue,

You know all about it, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty^* for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?

Where can I flee^* from Your presence?

⁸ If I ascend to the heavens, You are there;

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

⁹ If I rise on the wings^* of the dawn,

if I settle by the farthest^* sea,

¹⁰ even there Your hand will guide me;

Your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,^*

and the light become night around me”—^*

¹² even the darkness is not dark^* to You,

but the night shines like the day,

for darkness is as light to You.

¹³ For You formed^* my inmost being;

You knit me together^* in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise You,

for I am fearfully^* and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in secret,^*

when I was woven together

in the depths^* of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God,

how vast is their sum!

¹⁸ If I were to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

and when I awake,

I am still with You.

¹⁹ O God, that You would slay the wicked—

away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

²⁰ who speak of You deceitfully;^*

Your enemies take Your name in vain.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD,

and detest those who rise against You?

²² I hate them with perfect hatred;

I count them as my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my concerns.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me;

lead me in the way everlasting.