New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
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<To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.> O Lord, you have knowledge of me, searching out all my secrets.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.
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You have knowledge when I am seated and when I get up, you see my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
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You keep watch over my steps and my sleep, and have knowledge of all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.
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For there is not a word on my tongue which is not clear to you, O Lord.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
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I am shut in by you on every side, and you have put your hand on me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
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Such knowledge is a wonder greater than my powers; it is so high that I may not come near it.
7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?
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Where may I go from your spirit? how may I go in flight from you?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
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If I go up to heaven, you are there: or if I make my bed in the underworld, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
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If I take the wings of the morning, and go to the farthest parts of the sea;
10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.
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Even there will I be guided by your hand, and your right hand will keep me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,"
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If I say, Only let me be covered by the dark, and the light about me be night;
12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.
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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.
13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
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My flesh was made by you, and my parts joined together in my mother's body.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
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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.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
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My frame was not unseen by you when I was made secretly, and strangely formed in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.
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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.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
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How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
18 I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end —I am still with you.
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If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.
19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—
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If only you would put the sinners to death, O God; go far from me, you men of blood.
20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!
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For they go against you with evil designs, and your haters make sport of your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
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Are not your haters hated by me, O Lord? are not those who are lifted up against you a cause of grief to me?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
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My hate for them is complete; my thoughts of them are as if they were making war on me.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.
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O God, let the secrets of my heart be uncovered, and let my wandering thoughts be tested:
24 See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
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See if there is any way of sorrow in me, and be my guide in the eternal way.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.