Psalm 139:11–18

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day,

for darkness is as light with you.

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

I awake, and I am still with you.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,

and the light around me will be night”—

even the darkness is not dark to you.

The night shines like the day;

darkness and light are alike to you.

For it was you who created my inward parts;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I will praise you

because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.

Your works are wondrous,

and I know this very well.

My bones were not hidden from you

when I was made in secret,

when I was formed in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw me when I was formless;

all my days were written in your book and planned

before a single one of them began.

God, how precious your thoughts are to me;

how vast their sum is!

If I counted them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand;

when I wake up, I am still with you.

I could ask the darkness to hide me

and the light around me to become night—

but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!

And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,

and the light around me will be as night,”

even the darkness is not too dark for you,

and the night shines as the day—

the darkness and the light are alike for you.

Indeed you created my inward parts;

you wove me in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, because I am fearfully

and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works,

and my soul knows it well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was created secretly,

and intricately woven

in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my embryo,

and in your book they all were written—

days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.

And to me, how precious are your thoughts, O God;

how vast is their sum.

If I should count them,

they would outnumber the sand.

I awaken, and I am still with you.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;

Even the night shall be light about me.

Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee;

But the night shineth as the day:

The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

For thou hast possessed my reins:

Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:

Marvellous are thy works;

And that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee,

When I was made in secret,

And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;

And in thy book all my members were written,

Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:

When I awake, I am still with thee.