¹ [For the choirmaster Of David Psalm] Yahweh, you examine me and know me,

² you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my thoughts from afar.

³ You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of my conduct.

⁴ A word is not yet on my tongue before you, Yahweh, know all about it.

⁵ You fence me in, behind and in front, you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such amazing knowledge is beyond me, a height to which I cannot attain.

⁷ Where shall I go to escape your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I scale the heavens you are there, if I lie flat in Sheol, there you are.

⁹ If I speed away on the wings of the dawn, if I dwell beyond the ocean,

¹⁰ even there your hand will be guiding me, your right hand holding me fast.

¹¹ I will say, 'Let the darkness cover me, and the night wrap itself around me,'

¹² even darkness to you is not dark, and night is as clear as the day.

¹³ You created my inmost self, knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ For so many marvels I thank you; a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders. You knew me through and through,

¹⁵ my being held no secrets from you, when I was being formed in secret, textured in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶ Your eyes could see my embryo. In your book all my days were inscribed, every one that was fixed is there.

¹⁷ How hard for me to grasp your thoughts, how many, God, there are!

¹⁸ If I count them, they are more than the grains of sand; if I come to an end, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only, God, you would kill the wicked!-Men of violence, keep away from me!-

²⁰ those who speak blasphemously about you, and take no account of your thoughts.

²¹ Yahweh, do I not hate those who hate you, and loathe those who defy you?

²² My hate for them has no limits, I regard them as my own enemies.

²³ God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my concerns.

²⁴ Make sure that I am not on my way to ruin, and guide me on the road of eternity.