Scripture Verse

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. Psalm 139:2

Introduction

illustration
Nahum Tate (1652–1715)

Words: From A New Ver­sion of the Psalms of Da­vid, by Na­hum Tate & Ni­cho­las Bra­dy, 1696.

Music: Do­mi­ne Pro­bas­ti Al­fred Pet­tet, in Orig­in­al Sac­red Mu­sic, 1826 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Bra­dy or Pet­tet (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Thou, Lord, by strict­est search hast known
My ris­ing up and ly­ing down;
My sec­ret thoughts are known to Thee,
Known long be­fore con­ceived by me.

Thine eye my bed and path sur­veys,
My pub­lic haunts and pri­vate ways,
Thou know’st what ’tis my lips would vent,
My yet un­ut­tered word’s in­tent.

Surrounded by Thy pow­er I stand,
On ev­ery side I find Thy hand;
O skill, for hu­man reach too high!
Too dazz­ling bright for mor­tal eye!

Search, try, O God, my thought and heart,
If mis­chief lurks in any part;
Correct me where I go as­tray,
And guide me in Thy per­fect way.