[1] LORD, you have examined me and you know me. [2] You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts. [3] You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions. [4] Even before I speak, you already know what I will say. [5] You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power. [6] Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding. [7] Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence? [8] If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. [9] If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west, [10] you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me. [11] I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night, [12] but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. [13] You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb. [14] I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart. [15] When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother's womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there- [16] you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began. [17] O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are! [18] If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. [19] O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked! How I wish violent people would leave me alone! [20] They say wicked things about you; they speak evil things against your name. [21] O LORD, how I hate those who hate you! How I despise those who rebel against you! [22] I hate them with a total hatred; I regard them as my enemies. [23] Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. [24] Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.
