Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart

Psalm 139

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1
O Lord, you have p searched me and known me!
 2 You q know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you r discern my thoughts from afar.
 3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
 4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, s you know it altogether.
 5 You t hem me in, behind and before,
and u lay your hand upon me.
 6 v Such knowledge is w too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 x Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where y shall I flee from your presence?
 8 z If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
a If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
 9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
 10 even there your hand shall b lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
 11 If I say, c "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
 12 d even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you e formed my inward parts;
you f knitted me together in my mother's womb.
 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 1
g Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
 15 h My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in i the depths of the earth.
 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your j book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your k thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
 18 l If I would count them, they are more than m the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would n slay the wicked, O God!
O o men of blood, p depart from me!
 20 They q speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies r take your name in vain! 2
21 s Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not t loathe those who u rise up against you?
 22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
v Try me and know my thoughts! 3
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and w lead me in x the way everlasting! 4

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 12:3
    But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
    Psalms 7:9
    Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous - you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God!
    Psalms 17:3
    You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
    Psalms 44:21
    Would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
  2. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:27
    But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.
    Lamentations 3:63
    Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts.
  3. Cross References
    Job 14:16
    For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin.
    Job 31:4
    Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?
    Matthew 9:4
    But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?
    John 2:24 - 25
    But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people
  4. Cross References
    Hebrews 4:13
    And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
  5. Cross References
    Job 19:8
    He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths.
  6. Cross References
    Job 9:33
    There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both.
  7. Cross References
    Romans 11:33
    Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
  8. Cross References
    Job 42:3
    Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 23:24
    Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
  10. Cross References
    Jonah 1:3
    But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
  11. Cross References
    Amos 9:2
    If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
  12. Cross References
    Job 26:6
    Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
  13. Cross References
    Psalms 139:24
    And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
    Psalms 23:3
    He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
  14. Cross References
    Job 22:14
    Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.
  15. Cross References
    Job 34:22
    There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves.
    Daniel 2:22
    He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
  16. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:6
    Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?
  17. Cross References
    Job 10:11
    You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
  18. Cross References
    Psalms 72:18
    Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.
  19. Cross References
    Job 10:8 - 10
    Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.
    Ecclesiastes 11:5
    As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
  20. Cross References
    Psalms 63:9
    But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth.
  21. Cross References
    Psalms 56:8
    You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
  22. Cross References
    Psalms 92:5
    How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!
  23. Cross References
    Psalms 40:5
    You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
  24. Cross References
    Genesis 22:17
    I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.
  25. Cross References
    Isaiah 11:4
    But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
    Psalms 9:17
    The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.
  26. Cross References
    Psalms 5:6
    You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
  27. Cross References
    Psalms 6:8
    Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
  28. Cross References
    Jude 1:15
    To execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
  29. Cross References
    Exodus 20:7
    You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
  30. Cross References
    Psalms 26:5
    I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 119:158
    I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.
  32. Cross References
    Psalms 59:1
    Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise up against me.
  33. Cross References
    Psalms 26:2
    Prove me, O Lord, and try me; test my heart and my mind.
  34. Cross References
    Psalms 139:10
    Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
  35. Cross References
    Jeremiah 6:16
    Thus says the Lord : "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.
    Jeremiah 18:15
    But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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