Why read Psalm 138?
Psalm 138 is a prayer for self-examination and God's guidance. It reflects on His presence throughout life and ends with a request to be led along the right path.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 138 opens the heart with the cry "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me...". It is one of the 24-verse psalms of the Nineteenth Kathisma, and it is said both at the services and in prayer at home — the Psalter being the constant companion of the Orthodox Christian.
The text of Psalm 138
1. O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me.
2. Thou knowest my sitting down and mine uprising; Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar.
3. My path and my line of life Thou hast searched out, and all my ways hast Thou foreseen.
4. For there is not yet a word upon my tongue,
5. And behold, O Lord, Thou knowest all of them, the last and the things of old; Thou hast fashioned me and laid Thine hand upon me.
6. Wonderful is Thy knowledge, exceeding me; it is high, and I cannot attain unto it.
7. Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, and from Thy presence whither shall I flee?
8. If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there. If I go down into hell, Thou art present.
9. If I take my wings in the morning and dwell at the edges of the sea,
10. Even there also shall Thy hand guide me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.
11. And I said: "Perhaps darkness will cover me, and the light around me will become night".
12. But darkness is not darkness with Thee, and the night shall shine as the day. As is the darkness thereof, so also is the light thereof.
13. For Thou hast fashioned my reins; O Lord, Thou hast formed me in my mother's womb.
14. I will praise Thee, for I am so wonderfully made. Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows them well.
15. My bones are not hidden from Thee, which Thou hast made in secret, nor my being, which Thou hast woven as in the lowest depths of the earth.
16. Thine eyes have known the unformed parts of me, and in Thy book all shall be written; day by day they shall be completed, and none of them shall remain unwritten.
17. But Thy friends, O God, have I honoured exceedingly, and their dominion is mightily established.
18. I will count them, and they shall increase beyond the sand. I arose, and I am still with Thee.
19. O that Thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God! Ye men of blood, depart from me!
20. They speak evil of Thee, O Lord, and Thy enemies blaspheme Thy name.
21. Have I not hated them that hate Thee, O Lord, and been grieved at Thine enemies?
22. With perfect hatred have I hated them, and they are become foes unto me.
23. Search me, O Lord, and know my heart; try me, and know my paths,
24. And see if there be any way of iniquity in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
When Psalm 138 is read
- In awe at the omniscience of God.
- At the end of each psalm, the tradition adds: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Neighbouring psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
