1 1 I LORD, you have probed me, you know me:

2 2 you know when I sit and stand; you understand my thoughts from afar.

3 My travels and my rest you mark; with all my ways you are familiar.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, LORD, you know it all.

5 Behind and before you encircle me and rest your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is beyond me, far too lofty for me to reach.

7 Where can I hide from your spirit? From your presence, where can I flee?

8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I lie down in Sheol, you are there too.

9 3 If I fly with the wings of dawn and alight beyond the sea,

10 Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand hold me fast.

11 4 If I say, "Surely darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my light" --

12 Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.

13 You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew;

15 5 my bones were not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.

17 How precious to me are your designs, O God; how vast the sum of them!

18 Were I to count, they would outnumber the sands; to finish, I would need eternity.

19 If only you would destroy the wicked, O God, and the bloodthirsty would depart from me!

20 Deceitfully they invoke your name; your foes swear faithless oaths.

21 Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe?

22 With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own.

23 Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my concerns.

24 6 See if my way is crooked, then lead me in the ancient paths.