O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising,
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Thou measurest my going about and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord,
Thou knowest it altogether.
Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before,
and laid Thy hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
too high, I cannot attain unto it.
Whither shall I go from Thy spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there;
if I make my bed in the netherworld, behold,
Thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there would Thy hand lead me,
and Thy right hand would hold me.
And if I say: “Surely the darkness shall envelop me,
and the light about me shall be night,”
Even the darkness is not too dark for Thee,
but the night shineth as the day;
the darkness is even as the light.
For Thou hast made my reins;
Thou hast knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks unto Thee,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
wonderful are Thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well.
My frame was not hidden from Thee
when I was made in secret
and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance,
and in Thy book they were all written –
even the days that were fashioned
when as yet there was none of them.
How weighty also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I would count them,
they are more in number than the sand;
Were I to come to the end of them,
I would still be with Thee.
Search me, O God, and know my heart,
try me, and know my thoughts;
And see if there be any way in me that is grievous,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
The Bible’s Book of Psalms is a compilation of 150 hymns attributed to several ancient authors over a period of about a thousand years. Since earliest times it has formed a core component of Jewish and Christian liturgy. This passage is published in Easwaran’s spiritual anthologies, “God Makes the Rivers to Flow” and “Timeless Wisdom.” The audio recording is by Eknath Easwaran’s wife, Christine Easwaran.