Yahweh,
you have searched me,
and
you know me.
You
know my sitting down and my rising up.
You
perceive my thoughts from afar.
You
search out my path and my lying down,
and
are acquainted with all my ways.
For
there is not a word on my tongue,
but,
behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
You
hem me in behind and before.
You
laid your hand on me.
This
knowledge is beyond me.
It’s
lofty.
I
can’t attain it.
Where
could I go from your Spirit?
Or
where could I flee from your presence?
If
I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
If
I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
If
I take the wings of the dawn,
and
settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even
there your hand will lead me,
and
your right hand will hold me.
If
I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me.
The
light around me will be night,”
even
the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
but
the night shines as the day.
The
darkness is like light to you.
For
you formed my inmost being.
You
knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I
will give thanks to you,
for
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your
works are wonderful.
My
soul knows that very well.
My
frame wasn’t hidden from you,
when
I was made in secret,
woven
together in the depths of the earth.
Your
eyes saw my body.
In
your book they were all written,
the
days that were ordained for me,
when
as yet there were none of them.
How
precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How
vast is their sum!
If
I would count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When
I wake up, I am still with you.
Search
me, God, and know my heart.
Try
me, and know my thoughts,
and
lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalm 139: 1-18,
23
Image: The Carina Nebula
