1 LORD, you have searched my life and know my heart;
you search me and you know me through and through.
2 You know me when I sit and when I rise,
and from afar my thoughts are known to you.
3 You see my going out and lying down,
and you have perfect knowledge of my ways.
4 Before I speak a word, you know it, O LORD,
for nothing can e’er be hidden from your gaze.
5 Behind, before, you hem me in, O LORD,
and you have laid on me your mighty hand.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too high to grasp, too great to understand.
7 Where from your Spirit can I go and hide?
and from your presence, LORD, where can I fly?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are still there;
and e’en if in the depths of Sheol I lie.
9 If I take flight upon the wings of dawn
and if I settle far beyond the sea,
10 There also you will guide me with your hand
and still your right hand will keep hold of me.
11 If I should say, “The dark will cover me
and light around me be as dark as night,”
12 Yet even the darkness is not dark to you—
the night is as bright as day, the darkness light.
The psalm continues at Psalm 139B.
– Sing Psalms, alt.
Oremus 