Moff PSA Chapter 139

◄ PSA 139 ► ║ ═ ©

139 From the Choirmaster’s collection. A song of David.

139 Thou searchest me, Eternal One, thou knowest me,

2 thou knowest me sitting or rising,

my very thoughts thou readest from afar;

3 walking or resting, I am scanned by thee,

and all my life to thee lies open;

4 ere ever a word comes to my tongue,

O thou Eternal, ’tis well known to thee;

5 thou art on every side, behind me and before,

laying thy hand on me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is far, far beyond me.

7 Where could I go from thy Spirit,

where could I flee from thy face?

8 I climb to heaven? – but thou art there;

I nestle in the nether-world? – and there thou art!

9 If I darted swift to the dawn,

to the verge of the ocean afar,

10 thy hand even there would fall on me,

thy right hand would reach me.

11 If I say “The dark will screen me,

the night will hide me in its curtains,”

12 yet darkness is not dark to thee,

the night is clear as daylight.

14 I praise thee for the awful wonder of my birth;

thy work is wonderful.

13 For thou didst form my being,

didst weave me in my mother’s womb.

14 Thou knowest all about my soul;

15 my body was no mystery to thee,

as I was being moulded secretly

and put together in the world below;

16 all the days of my life were foreseen by thee,

set down within thy book;

ere ever they were shaped, they were assigned me,

ere ever one of them was mine.

17 O God, what mysteries I find in thee!

How vast the number of thy purposes!

18 I try to count them? – they are more than the sand;

I wake from my reverie, and I am still lost in thee.

19 O God, that thou would’st slay the ungodly,

and bid bloodthirsty men begone from me!–

20 men who defy thee lawlessly,

rising against thee!

21 Shall I not hate all who hate thee, Eternal,

shall I not loathe these rebels?

22 I hate them with a perfect hatred,

I count them enemies to myself.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart,

test me and try my thoughts;

24 see if I am taking any course of wrong,

and lead me on the lines of life eternal.