Ps. 138, 139:1–17 (18–23)

1I will give you thanks with my whole heart.
Before the gods, I will sing praises to you.
2I will bow down toward your holy temple,
and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth;
for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.
3In the day that I called, you answered me.
You encouraged me with strength in my soul.
4All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, Yahweh,
for they have heard the words of your mouth.
5Yes, they will sing of the ways of Yahweh;
for great is Yahweh’s glory.
6For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly;
but the proud, he knows from afar.
7Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me.
You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies.
Your right hand will save me.
8Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me;
your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever.
Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
1Yahweh, you have searched me,
and you know me.
2You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word on my tongue,
but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in behind and before.
You laid your hand on me.
6This knowledge is beyond me.
It’s lofty.
I can’t attain it.
7Where could I go from your Spirit?
Or where could I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, you are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10Even there your hand will lead me,
and your right hand will hold me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me;
the light around me will be night”;
12even the darkness doesn’t hide from you,
but the night shines as the day.
The darkness is like light to you.
13For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I will give thanks to you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful.
My soul knows that very well.
15My frame wasn’t hidden from you,
when I was made in secret,
woven together in the depths of the earth.
16Your 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.
17How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is their sum!
18If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I wake up, I am still with you.
19If only you, God, would kill the wicked.
Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20For they speak against you wickedly.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
21Yahweh, don’t I hate those who hate you?
Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
22I hate them with perfect hatred.
They have become my enemies.
23Search me, God, and know my heart.
Try me, and know my thoughts.