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Psalm 139, read aloud
Psalm 139: LORD, you have searched me
A psalm about being fully known. Listen to the opening, and read all twenty-four verses below.
The preview ends here.
There is 1:46 more of Psalm 139 in Linen, where 40 psalms are read aloud at bedtime by Mia or by James, with a sleep timer.
Free to download, iPhone only for now. The bedtime psalms are part of Linen Premium: $6.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and the yearly plan starts with a 7-day free trial. Psalm 23 is free in the app.
Psalm 139 World English Bible
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.
2You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, LORD, you know it altogether.
5You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
6This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.
7Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?
8If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
9If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”
12even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
13For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
15My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
17How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
18If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
19If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20For they speak against you wickedly. Your enemies take your name in vain.
21LORD, don’t I hate those who hate you? Am I not grieved with those who rise up against you?
22I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies.
23Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
24See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
About Psalm 139
Psalm 139 is a psalm of David in four movements of six verses each. God knows me (verses 1 to 6). God is with me wherever I go (7 to 12). God made me (13 to 18). And so I ask God to search me (19 to 24).
Its best-known lines come from the third part: “You knit me together in my mother’s womb,” and “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” On a hard night the second part matters just as much: “even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day.”
Verses 19 to 22 startle most readers. David asks God to deal with violent men, in fierce words. Watch what he does next. He does not act on the anger; he hands it to God, and then turns the light on himself: “Search me, God, and know my heart.” The psalm opens by saying “you have searched me” and closes by asking for it.
When to read Psalm 139
- When you feel unseen, or misread by the people around you.
- When you doubt that you were made on purpose.
- At the end of the day, as a way to look over your own heart before sleep.
A prayer from Psalm 139
Lord, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. Where could I go from your presence? Search me, God, and know my heart. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. Amen.