THE BOOK OF PSALMS

Psalms 139-140

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 ¶ O LORD, you have searched me, and known me.

2 You know when I sit down and when I get up, you understand my thoughts from far away.

3 You watch over my travels and my rest, and know all my ways.

4 Before there is a word on my tongue, O LORD, you know all about it.

5 You have surrounded me, and placed your hand upon me.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it.

7 ¶ Where can I go to escape your spirit? or where can I flee to escape your presence?

8 If I go up into heaven, you are there: if I make the grave my bed, behold, you are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, and stay at the most distant parts of the sea;

10 Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.

11 If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me; and the light around me will become night.

12 Even the dark does not hide things from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to you.

13 For you have created my inner being: you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: what you do is marvelous; and I know this very well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the depths of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw me, before I was formed; and in your book all the days of my life were written, before they ever took shape, before any of them began.

17 ¶ How incomprehensible are your thoughts for me, O God! how vast is the number of them!

18 If I would count them, they would be more numerous than the grains of sand: when I awake, I am still with you.

19 O that you would slay the wicked, O God: and that bloody men would depart from me.

20 For they speak wickedness against you, and as your enemies take your name in vain.

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? and detest those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I regard them as my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: test me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 140

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

1 ¶ Rescue me, O LORD, from wicked men: keep me safe from violent men;

2 Who plan evil in their heart; and are continually stirring up fighting.

3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; their lips hide the poison of vipers. Selah.

4 Protect me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; keep me safe from violent men; who have plotted to overthrow me.

5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, and have spread a net with ropes; they have set traps for me along the path. Selah.

6 I said to the LORD, You are my God: hear the voice of my pleading, O LORD.

7 O Lord GOD, my mighty savior, you have shielded my head in the day of battle.

8 ¶ Do not give the wicked what they want, O LORD: or let them achieve their goals; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.

9 As for the heads of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips overwhelm them.

10 Let burning coals rain upon them: let them be thrown into the fire; into the abyss, so that they do not come up again.

11 Do not let a slanderer be established on the earth: disaster will pursue the violent man to overthrow him.

12 I know that the LORD upholds the cause of the afflicted, and executes justice for the poor.

13 Surely the righteous will praise your name: and the upright will live in your presence.