The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
1
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
2
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
3 You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight.
3
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
4 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence.
4
For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
5 I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too - your reassuring presence, coming and going.
5
Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
6 This is too much, too wonderful - I can't take it all in!
6
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight?
7
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there!
8
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon,
9
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 You'd find me in a minute - you're already there waiting!
10
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!"
11
If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.
12
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb.
13
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I thank you, High God - you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation!
14
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 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.
15
My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 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.
16
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 Your thoughts - how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them!
17
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 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!
18
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19 And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers - out of here! -
19
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
20
For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
21
Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies!
22
I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about;
23
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong - then guide me on the road to eternal life.
24
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
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.
The King James Version is in the public domain.