Yahweh, examine me, * and know me yourself!

    You know my sitting and my standing; * you discern my thoughts from a distance.

        My departure and my arrival you survey, * and all my travels superintend.

           The word is not even off my tongue, * yet, Yahweh, you know it all.

        Behind and before you hedge me in, * and you lay your palms on me.

    Too overpowering for me is your knowledge, * too towering, I cannot master it.

        Where can I go from your spirit? * Oh where from your face can I flee?

           If I climb the heavens, you are there! * If I make Sheol my bed, you are here!

           Should I raise my wings in the East, * to settle in the west of the sea,

        even there you would lower your left hand on me, * and would seize me with your right hand.

           Then I realized, even in the Dark he observes me, * and in the Night daylight is all around me.

           Even the Dark is not very dark for you, * since the Night shines for you like the day, * the Dark like light.

               Yes, you created my inmost self, * have sheltered me from the womb of my mother.

           I praise you, Most High, * because you are awesome.

           I fall in adoration before you, * so dreadful in your deeds.

        My soul itself you have known of old; * my bones were never hidden from you,

           since I was nipped off in the Secret Place, * kneaded in the depths of the underworld.

           Your eyes saw my life stages; * on your scroll all of them were inscribed.

        My days were shaped * when I was not yet seen by them.

    But for me, how weighty are your thoughts, * God, how powerful their essence!

    could I count them—more numerous than sand! * May I rise and ever be with you!

        Oh that you would slay the wicked, God! * men of idols, go away from me!

        They look at every fetish * and lift their eyes to stupidities on a rack.

    Yes, those who hate you, Yahweh, I hate, * and those who challenge you I detest.

    With perfect hatred I hate them; * they are my enemies.

Examine me, God, and know my heart; * test me, and know my cares.

Then see if an idol has held sway over me, * and lead me into the eternal kingdom.