[1] O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.
[2] You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
[3] You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do.
[4] You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
[5] You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.
[6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
[7] I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!
[8] If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there.
[9] If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
[10] even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.
[11] I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—
[12] but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
[13] You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
[14] Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
[15] You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
[16] You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
[17] How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
[18] I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
[19] O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!
[20] They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name.
[21] O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
[22] Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.
[23] Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
[24] Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.