New International Version NIV
Common English Bible CEB
1 You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.
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LORD, you have examined me. You know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
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You know when I sit down and when I stand up. Even from far away, you comprehend my plans.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
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You study my traveling and resting. You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.
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There isn't a word on my tongue, LORD, that you don't already know completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
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You surround me—front and back. You put your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
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That kind of knowledge is too much for me; it's so high above me that I can't fathom it.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
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Where could I go to get away from your spirit? Where could I go to escape your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
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If I went up to heaven, you would be there. If I went down to the grave, you would be there too!
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
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If I could fly on the wings of dawn, stopping to rest only on the far side of the ocean—
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
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even there your hand would guide me; even there your strong hand would hold me tight!
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
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If I said, "The darkness will definitely hide me; the light will become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
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even then the darkness isn't too dark for you! Nighttime would shine bright as day, because darkness is the same as light to you!
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
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You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
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I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart. Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
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My bones weren't hidden from you when I was being put together in a secret place, when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
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Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
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God, your plans are incomprehensible to me! Their total number is countless!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
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If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand! If I came to the very end—I'd still be with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
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If only, God, you would kill the wicked! If only murderers would get away from me—
20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
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the people who talk about you, but only for wicked schemes; the people who are your enemies, who use your name as if it were of no significance.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
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Don't I hate everyone who hates you? Don't I despise those who attack you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
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Yes, I hate them—through and through! They've become my enemies too.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
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Examine me, God! Look at my heart! Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
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Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me, then lead me on the eternal path!
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible