God's Complete Knowledge and Care
1 Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2 You know everything I do;
from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3 You see me, whether I am working or resting;
you know all my actions.
4 Even before I speak,
you already know what I will say.
5 You are all around me on every side;
you protect me with your power.
6 Your knowledge of me is too deep;
it is beyond my understanding.
7 Where could I go to escape from you?
Where could I get away from your presence?
8 If I went up to heaven, you would be there;
if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.
9 If I flew away beyond the east
or lived in the farthest place in the west,
10 you would be there to lead me,
you would be there to help me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
or the light around me to turn into night,
12 but even darkness is not dark for you,
and the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.
13 You created every part of me;
you put me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because you are to be feared;
all you do is strange and wonderful.
I know it with all my heart.
15 When my bones were being formed,
carefully put together in my mother's womb,
when I was growing there in secret,
you knew that I was there—
16 you saw me before I was born.
The days allotted to me
had all been recorded in your book,
before any of them ever began.
17 O God, how difficult I find your thoughts;
how many of them there are!
18 If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you.
19 O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked!
How I wish violent people would leave me alone!
20 They say wicked things about you;
they speak evil things against your name.
21 O Lord, how I hate those who hate you!
How I despise those who rebel against you!
22 I hate them with a total hatred;
I regard them as my enemies.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my mind;
test me, and discover my thoughts.
24 Find out if there is any evil in me
and guide me in the everlasting way.
1 To him that excelleth. A Psalme of David. O Lord, thou hast tried me and knowen me. 2 Thou knowest my sitting and my rising: thou vnderstandest my thought afarre off. 3 Thou compassest my pathes, and my lying downe, and art accustomed to all my wayes. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but loe, thou knowest it wholy, O Lord. 5 Thou holdest mee straite behinde and before, and layest thine hand vpon me. 6 Thy knowledge is too wonderfull for mee: it is so high that I cannot attaine vnto it. 7 Whither shall I goe from thy Spirite? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascende into heauen, thou art there: if I lye downe in hell, thou art there. 9 Let mee take the winges of the morning, and dwell in the vttermost parts of the sea: 10 Yet thither shall thine hand leade me, and thy right hand holde me. 11 If I say, Yet the darkenes shall hide me, euen the night shalbe light about me. 12 Yea, the darkenes hideth not from thee: but the night shineth as the day: the darkenes and light are both alike. 13 For thou hast possessed my reines: thou hast couered me in my mothers wombe. 14 I will praise thee, for I am fearefully and wonderously made: marueilous are thy workes, and my soule knoweth it well. 15 My bones are not hid from thee, though I was made in a secret place, and facioned beneath in the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see me, when I was without forme: for in thy booke were all things written, which in continuance were facioned, when there was none of them before. 17 Howe deare therefore are thy thoughtes vnto me, O God! how great is ye summe of them! 18 If I should count them, they are moe then the sand: when I wake, I am still with thee. 19 Oh that thou wouldest slay, O God, the wicked and bloody men, to whom I say, Depart ye from mee: 20 Which speake wickedly of thee, and being thine enemies are lifted vp in vaine. 21 Doe not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and doe not I earnestly contend with those that rise vp against thee? 22 I hate them with an vnfained hatred, as they were mine vtter enemies. 23 Try mee, O God, and knowe mine heart: prooue me and know my thoughtes, 24 And consider if there be any way of wickednes in me, and leade me in the way for euer.