The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
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<<For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.>> Yahweh, you have searched me, And you know me.
2 I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
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You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight.
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You search out my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence.
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For there is not a word on my tongue, But, behold, Yahweh, you know 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.
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You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
6 This is too much, too wonderful - I can't take it all in!
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This knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty. I can't attain it.
7 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight?
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Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
8 If I climb to the sky, you're there! If I go underground, you're there!
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If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
9 If I flew on morning's wings to the far western horizon,
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If I take the wings of the dawn, And settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 You'd find me in a minute - you're already there waiting!
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Even there your hand will lead me, And your right hand will hold me.
11 Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I'm immersed in the light!"
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If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; The light around me will be night;"
12 It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.
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Even the darkness doesn't hide from you, But the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
13 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb.
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For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together 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!
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I will give thanks to you, For I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very 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.
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My frame wasn't hidden from you, When I was made in secret, Woven together in the depths 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.
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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.
17 Your thoughts - how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them!
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How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast 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!
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If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
19 And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers - out of here! -
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If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
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For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.
21 See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
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Yahweh, don't I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
22 I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies!
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I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my 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;
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Search me, 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.
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See if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
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 World English Bible is in the public domain.