Psalm 139 - Bible in Basic English

1410-450 BC 59 years ago Bible

1 <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.

2 You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.

3 You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.

4 For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.

5 I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.

6 Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.

7 Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?

8 If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea;

10 Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me.

11 If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night;

12 Even the dark is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day: for dark and light are the same to you.

13 My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.

14 I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious.

15 My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being.

17 How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!

18 If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.

20 For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name.

21 Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me?

22 My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.

23 O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:

24 See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.

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