Psalm 139, side by side

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

¹O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

²Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

³You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.

³Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

⁴Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD.

⁴For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

⁵You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me.

⁵Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

⁷Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence?

⁷Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

⁸If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.

⁸If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea,

⁹If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast.

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

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

¹¹If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

¹²Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

¹³For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹³For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and I know this very well.

¹⁴I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

¹⁵My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.

¹⁶Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!

¹⁷How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

¹⁸If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

¹⁸If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

¹⁹O God, that You would slay the wicked— away from me, you bloodthirsty men—

¹⁹Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

²⁰who speak of You deceitfully; Your enemies take Your name in vain.

²⁰For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

²¹Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD, and detest those who rise against You?

²¹Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

²²I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them as my enemies.

²²I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

²⁴And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.