Bible reading & Paraphrase poem
Psalm 139
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Paraphrase Poem (Based on Psalm 139)
Every fibre, every sinew, every thought and every deed,You watch and look and listen, delve so deep that you can see.But more than see; you know, you love, you treasure more than gold.You’ve searched me and you know me Lord and placed me in your fold.
You love us and you know us; you know us and you love us.
If I walk or run, stand or sit, whisper, shout or cry.My inmost thought, my bellowed yell, my reddened tear filled eye.You know the arc my life will trace; the path my life will run;When I lie down to rest and sleep after the day is done.
You love us and you know us; you know us and you love us.
Before, behind, above, below, your love encircles me.I cannot lock and bolt the door, for your love sets me free.I cannot hide and shut you out, your touch is always near.A touch which leaves me breathless, loved and drives away my fear.I’m overwhelmed; too much, too much, too much your love for me.My mind is swamped, drowned and drenched; such love, how can it be?Where can I go to flee that touch, to escape the love you show?I cannot simply shut you out; there’s nowhere I can go!
You love us and you know us; you know us and you love us.
From far off realm to the nearest part, from the heights to the deepest place;To galaxies across the sky, I see your love etched face.I cannot fly on wings of light to the farthest, distant shore,For even there you find me; hold me close for evermore.I try to hide in darkness, in the blanket of the night,But your love tracks me down, reveals me with your light.For darkness is not dark, in the fullness of your love;Its shadows driven out by your light from high above.
You love us and you know us; you know us and you love us.
For before my first breath filled my lungs, before I’d yet been born,Your hand was working wonders in the way that I was formed.Your gentle touch created me, within my mother’s womb;My heart and lungs, my hands and feet, all to your love attuned.So with the fullness of my breath, with all the strength I have,I sing your praise, I shout for joy, for you have made me glad!
You love us and you know us; you know us and you love us.
So intricate and delicate, the form you sketched in me.So full of strength and power and life, potentiality.But this form was no secret to the one who conceived it.No fluke of fate, no happenstance, that I was carefully knit.In You, my form, my life, my deeds were known before they’re done.In You, by grace, the victory had already been won.Your book of life records my days spent on this wondrous earth.My every step, each thought, each word I uttered since my birth.
You love us and you know us; you know us and you love us.
My God, my God, I can’t contain the wonder you inspire.The depth of love and knowledge, which your counsel would require,To hold each child that’s born on earth so closely to your breast,To know their thoughts, their deeds, their needs, when they wake and when they rest.I cannot grasp all you perceive, my mind cannot contain,The mysterious depth of your great love, yet within it, I remain.
You love us and you know us, you know us and you love us.
Proclaim the praise due to the Father!Shout to the Son for the wonders He’s done!Sing of the Spirit throughout all the earth!As it was, as it is, as it will be to come.Amen.
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