Knowing God, Knowing Oneself

139 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.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, OLord,you know it altogether.
⁵You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

⁷Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
¹²even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

¹³ For youformed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your 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.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸If 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!
²⁰They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
²¹Do I not hate those who hate you, OLord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²² I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
²⁴And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!