139 ⁽⁰⁾ For the leader. A psalm of David:

⁽¹⁾ Adonai, you have probed me, and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I stand up,
you discern my inclinations from afar,
³ you scrutinize my daily activities.
You are so familiar with all my ways
⁴ that before I speak even a word, Adonai,
you know all about it already.
⁵ You have hemmed me in both behind and in front
and laid your hand on me.
⁶ Such wonderful knowledge is beyond me,
far too high for me to reach.

⁷ Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there.
⁹ If I fly away with the wings of the dawn
and land beyond the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand would lead me,
your right hand would hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Let darkness surround me,
let the light around me be night,”
¹² even darkness like this
is not too dark for you;
rather, night is as clear as day,
darkness and light are the same.

¹³ For you fashioned my inmost being,
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I thank you because I am awesomely made,
wonderfully; your works are wonders —
I know this very well.
¹⁵ My bones were not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes could see me as an embryo,
but in your book all my days were already written;
my days had been shaped
before any of them existed.
¹⁷ God, how I prize your thoughts!
How many of them there are!
¹⁸ If I count them, there are more than grains of sand;
if I finish the count, I am still with you.

¹⁹ God, if only you would kill off the wicked!
Men of blood, get away from me!
²⁰ They invoke your name for their crafty schemes;
yes, your enemies misuse it.
²¹ Adonai, how I hate those who hate you!
I feel such disgust with those who defy you!
²² I hate them with unlimited hatred!
They have become my enemies too.

²³ Examine me, God, and know my heart;
test me, and know my thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is in me any hurtful way,
and lead me along the eternal way.