Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 <<For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.>> LORD, you have searched me, And you know me.
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God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
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I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
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You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But, behold, LORD, you know it altogether.
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You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence.
5 You tzitzit me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
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I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too - your reassuring presence, coming and going.
6 This knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty. I can't attain it.
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This is too much, too wonderful - I can't take it all in!
7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
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Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in She'ol, behold, you are there!
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If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there!
9 If I take the wings of the dawn, And settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
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If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon,
10 Even there your hand will lead me, And your right hand will hold me.
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You'd find me in a minute - you're already there waiting!
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; The light around me will be night;"
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Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!"
12 Even the darkness doesn't hide from you, But the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
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It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.
13 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.
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Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb.
14 I will give thanks to you, For I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
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I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation!
15 My frame wasn't hidden from you, When I was made in secret, Woven together in the depths of the eretz.
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You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
16 Your 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.
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Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
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Your thoughts - how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them!
18 If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
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I couldn't even begin to count them - any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
19 If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
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And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers - out of here! -
20 For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.
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all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
21 LORD, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
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See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
22 I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.
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I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies!
23 Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
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Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about;
24 See if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
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See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong - then guide me on the road to eternal life.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.