Lord, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting-places
and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there;
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me
and your right hand hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,
and the light around me turn to night,”
Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day;
darkness and light to you are both alike.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

For you yourself created my inmost parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

My body was not hidden from you,
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.

How deep I find your thoughts, O God!
how great is the sum of them!
If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.

Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God!
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.
They speak despitefully against you;
your enemies take your Name in vain.

Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate you?
and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with a perfect hatred;
they have become my own enemies.

Search me out, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my restless thoughts.
Look well whether there be any wickedness in me
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers;
protect me from the violent,
Who devise evil in their hearts
and stir up strife all day long.
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent;
adder’s poison is under their lips.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent,
who are determined to trip me up.
The proud have hidden a snare for me
and stretched out a net of cords;
they have set traps for me along the path.

I have said to the Lord, “You are my God;
listen, O Lord, to my supplication.
O Lord God, the strength of my salvation,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Do not grant the desires of the wicked, O Lord,
nor let their evil plans prosper.

“Let not those who surround me lift up their heads;
let the evil of their lips overwhelm them.
Let hot burning coals fall upon them;
let them be cast into the mire, never to rise up again.”
A slanderer shall not be established on the earth,
and evil shall hunt down the lawless.

I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the poor
and render justice to the needy.
Surely, the righteous will give thanks to your Name,
and the upright shall continue in your sight.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

O Lord, I call to you; come to me quickly;
hear my voice when I cry to you.
Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord,
and guard the door of my lips;
let not my heart incline to any evil thing.
Let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers,
nor eat of their choice foods.

Let the righteous smite me in friendly rebuke;
let not the oil of the unrighteous anoint my head;
for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.

Let their rulers be overthrown in stony places,
that they may know my words are true.
As when a plowman turns over the earth in furrows,
let their bones be scattered at the mouth of the grave.

But my eyes are turned to you, Lord God;
in you I take refuge;
do not strip me of my life.
Protect me from the snare which they have laid for me
and from the traps of the evildoers.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I myself escape.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.

With joy we praise your servants, Lord,
who worshiped you with all their heart,
and gladly we break forth in song
to honor you with grateful love.

These faithful ones who followed Christ
abandoned freely all the joys
this world could offer and display,
all luring gain and fleeting wealth.

With vows they gave themselves to you,
obedient in humility;
they imitated in their flesh
the purity of Christ, the spouse.

Inflamed with love’s consuming fire,
with mind and heart in word and deed,
they longed to please and do your will
and strove to cling to you alone.

Thus, consecrated to your love
with bonds of charity on earth,
in lasting freedom they went forth
to triumph with you in the stars.

Grant us, like them, to hasten, Lord,
spurred on to imitate their lives,
that we may praise with hymns on high
the Father, Son, and Spirit blest. Amen.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be for ever. Amen.