The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.
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Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2 You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.
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You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3 You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.
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You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.
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Even before I speak, you already know what I will say.
5 I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.
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You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power.
6 Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.
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Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding.
7 Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?
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Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence?
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there.
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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 take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea;
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If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west,
10 Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me.
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you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.
11 If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night;
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I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night,
12 Even the dark is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day: for dark and light are the same to you.
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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 My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.
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You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb.
14 I will give you praise, for I am strangely and delicately formed; your works are great wonders, and of this my soul is fully conscious.
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I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart.
15 My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.
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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 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book all my days were recorded, even those which were purposed before they had come into being.
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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 How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
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O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are!
18 If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.
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If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.
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O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked! How I wish violent people would leave me alone!
20 For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name.
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They say wicked things about you; they speak evil things against your name.
21 Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me?
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O Lord, how I hate those who hate you! How I despise those who rebel against you!
22 My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.
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I hate them with a total hatred; I regard them as my enemies.
23 O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:
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Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts.
24 See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.
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Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.