Psalms 138

¹ Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me:

² Thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up.

³ Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out.

⁴ And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue.

⁵ Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me. [4] "There is no speech" : Viz., unknown to thee: or when there is no speech in my tongue; yet my whole interior and my most secret thoughts are known to thee.

⁶ Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it.

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?

⁸ If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present.

⁹ If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea:

¹⁰ Even there also shall thy hand lead me: and thy right hand shall hold me.

¹¹ And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.

¹² But darkness shall not be dark to thee, and night shall be light as day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to thee.

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.

¹⁷ But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.

¹⁸ I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee.

¹⁹ If thou wilt kill the wicked, O God: ye men of blood, depart from me:

²⁰ Because you say in thought : They shall receive thy cities in vain. [20] "Because you say in thought" : Depart from me, you wicked, who plot against the servants of God, and think to cast them out of the cities of their habitation; as if they have received them in vain, and to no purpose.

²¹ Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated thee: and pine away because of thy enemies?

²² I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they are become enemies to me.

²³ Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.

²⁴ And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way. [22] "I have hated them" : Not with an hatred of malice, but a zeal for the observance of God's commandments; which he saw were despised by the wicked, who are to be considered enemies to God. Book of Psalms next > Psalm 138 next > TOP OF PAGE side_ads("../") var sc_project = 12672635; var sc_invisible = 1; var sc_security = "b8696459";