 English text
O Lord, thou hast me tried and known,
My sitting down dost know;
My rising up and thoughts far off
Thou understandst also.
My path, yea, and my bed likewise
Thou art about always,
And by familiar custom art
Acquainted with my ways.
No word is in my tongue, O Lord,
That is not known to thee;
Thou hast beset me round about,
And laid thy hand on me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful,
And past my skill to gain;
It is so high, that I unto
The same cannot attain.
From thy all-seeing spirit then,
Lord, whither shall I go?
Or whither shall I fly away
From thy presence also?
For if to heav'n I do climb up,
Lo, thou art present there;
In hell if I lie down below,
E'en there thou dost appear:
Yea, let me take the morning wings,
And let me go and dwell
E'en in the very utmost parts,
Where flowing seas do swell:
Yet, certainly there also shall
Thy hand me lead and guide,
And thy right hand shall hold me fast,
And make me to abide:
Or if I say, The darkness shall
Shroud me quite from thy sight,
E'en then the night that is most dark
About me shall be light.
The darkness hideth not from thee,
But night doth shine as day;
To thee the darkness and the light
Are both alike alway.
The Second Part
For thou possessed hast my reins,
And thou didst cover me,
Within my mother's womb, when I
Was there inclos'd by thee.
Thee will I praise: made fearfully
And wondrously I am;
Thy works are marvelous, right well
My soul doth know the same.
My bones they are not hid from thee,
Although in secret place
I have been made, and in the earth
Beneath I shaped was.
When I was formless, then thy eye
Saw me, for in thy book
Were all my members written, and
Nought after fashion took.
The thoughts therefore of thee, O God,
How dear are they to me!
And of them all how very great
The endless numbers be!
If I should count them, lo, their sum
More than the sand they be;
And whensoever I awake
I present am with thee.
The wicked and ungodly thou
Most certainly wilt slay:
Therefore now, all ye bloody men,
Depart from me away.
These are the men, O Lord, who speak
Most wickedly of thee,
And take thy name in vain, because
Thy enemies they be.
Hate I not them that hate thee, Lord,
And that in earnest wise?
Am I not grieved with all those
That up against thee rise?
I hate them with a perfect hate,
E'en as my utter foes:
Try me, O God, and know my heart,
My thoughts prove and disclose.
Consider, Lord, if wickedness
In me there any be;
And in thy way, O God my guide,
For ever lead thou me.
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Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - First part, Long Meter
1 Lord, thou hast search'd and seen me though;
Thine eye commands with piercing view
My rising and my resting hours,
My heart and flesh with all their pow'rs.
2 My thoughts, before they are my own,
Are to my God distinctly known;
He knows the words I mean to speak,
Ere from my op'ning lips they break.
3 Within thy circling pow'r I stand;
On ev'ry side I find thy hand:
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.
4 Amazing knowledge, vast and great!
What large extent! what lofty height!
My soul with all the pow'rs I boast
Is in the boundless prospect lost.
5 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where-e'er I rove, where-e'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
Pause the First
6 Could I so false, so faithless prove,
To quit thy service and thy love,
Where, Lord, could I thy presence shun,
Or from thy dreadful glory run?
7 If up to heav'n I take my flight,
'Tis there thou dwell'st inthron'd in light;
Or dive to hell, there vengeance reigns,
And Satan groans beneath thy chains.
8 If mounted on a morning-ray
I fly beyond the western sea,
Thy swifter hand would first arrive,
And there arrest thy fugitive.
9 Or should I try to shun thy sight
Beneath the spreading veil of night,
One glance of thine, one piercing ray,
Would kindle darkness into day.
10 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where-e'er I rove, where-e'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
Pause the Second
11 The veil of night is no disguise,
No screen from thy all-searching eyes;
Thy hand can seize thy foes as soon
Through midnight shades as blazing noon.
12 Midnight and noon in this agree,
Great God, they're both alike to thee;
Not death can hide what God will spy,
And hell lies naked to his eye.
13 O may these thoughts possess my breast,
Where-e'er I rove, where-e'er I rest!
Nor let my weaker passions dare
Consent to sin, for God is there.
Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - Second part, Long Meter
1 'Twas from thy hand, my God, I came,
A work of such a curious frame;
In me thy fearful wonders shine,
And each proclaims thy skill divine.
2 Thine eyes did all my limbs survey,
Which yet in dark confusion lay;
Thou saw'st the daily growth they took,
Form'd by the model of thy book.
3 By thee my growing parts were nam'd,
And what thy sov'reign counsels fram'd,
(The breathing lungs, the beating heart)
Was copy'd with unerring art.
4 At last to shew my Maker's name,
God stamp'd his image on my frame,
And in some unknown moment join'd
The finish'd members to the mind.
5 There the young seeds of thought began,
And all the passions of the man:
Great God, our infant-nature pays
Immortal tribute to thy praise.
Pause
6 Lord, since in my advancing age
I've acted on life's busy stage,
Thy thoughts of love to me surmount
The pow'r of numbers to recount.
7 I could survey the ocean o'er,
And count each sand that makes the shore,
Before my swiftest thoughts could trace
The num'rous wonders of thy grace.
8 These on my heart are still impress'd,
With these I give my eyes to rest;
And at my waking hour I find
God and his love possess my mind.
Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - Third part, Long Meter
1 My God, what inward grief I feel
When impious men transgress thy will!
I mourn to hear their lips profane,
Take thy tremendous name in vain.
2 Does not my soul detest and hate
The sons of malice and deceit?
Those that oppose thy laws and thee,
I count them enemies to me.
3 Lord, search my soul, try ev'ry thought;
Though my own heart accuse me not
Of walking in a false disguise,
I beg the trial of thine eyes.
4 Doth secret mischief lurk within?
Do I indulge some unknown sin?
O turn my feet when-e'er I stray,
And lead me in thy perfect way.
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Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - First part, Common Meter
1 In all my vast concerns with thee
In vain my soul would try
To shun thy presence, Lord, or flee
The notice of thine eye.
2 Thy all-surrounding fight surveys
My rising and my rest,
My public walks, my private ways,
And secrets of my breast.
3 My thoughts lie open to the Lord
Before they're form'd within;
And ere my lips pronounce the word,
He knows the sense I mean.
4 O wondrous knowledge, deep and high!
Where can a creature hide?
Within thy circling arms I lie,
Beset on ev'ry side.
5 So let thy grace surround me still,
And like a bulwark prove,
To guard my soul from ev'ry ill,
Secur'd by sov'reign love.
Pause
6 Lord, where shall guilty souls retire,
Forgotten and unknown?
In hell they meet thy dreadful fire,
In heav'n thy glorious throne.
7 Should I suppress my vital breath
To 'scape the wrath divine,
Thy voice would break the bars of death,
And make the grave resign.
8 If wing'd with beams of morning-light
I fly beyond the west,
Thy hand, which must support my flight,
Would soon betray my rest,
9 If o'er my sins I think to draw
The curtains of the night,
Those flaming eyes that guard thy law
Would turn the shades to light.
10 The beams of noon, the midnight hour.
Are both alike to thee:
O may I ne'er provoke that pow'r
From which I cannot flee!
Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - Second part, Common Meter
1 When I with pleasing wonder stand.
And all my frame survey,
Lord, 'tis thy work: I own, thy hand
Thus built my humble clay.
2 Thy hand my heart and reins possest
Where unborn nature grew,
Thy wisdom all my features trac'd,
And all my members drew.
3 Thine eye with nicest care survey'd
The growth of ev'ry part;
Till the whole scheme thy thoughts had laid
Was copy'd by thy art.
4 Heav'n, earth, and sea, and fire, and wind
Shew me thy wondrous skill;
But I review myself and find
Diviner wonders still.
5 Thy awful glories round me shine,
My flesh proclaims thy praise;
Lord, to thy works of nature join
Thy miracles of grace.
Metrical paraphrase by Isaac Watts - Third part, Common Meter
1 Lord, when I count thy mercies o'er,
They strike me with surprise;
Not all the sands that spread the shore
To equal numbers rise.
2 My flesh with fear and wonder stands,
The product of thy skill,
And hourly blessings from thy hands
Thy thoughts of love reveal.
3 These on my heart by night I keep;
How kind, how dear to me!
O may the hour that ends my sleep
Still find my thoughts with thee.
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