Original Dramatic Reading: Psalm 139

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Psalm 139

Written by: Jane E. Booth

This is a dramatic reading. Dramatic readings are not plays or sketches, but rather a retelling of biblical stories using the voices of individuals to represent different Scriptural characters. Sets, props, and "acting" are not required. However, the readers must deliver their lines as if they were the characters they represent, demonstrating proper emotion, emphasis, and intonation. Readings must be properly cast, practiced, and rehearsed just as with any drama.

Cast of Seven Readers:

1: begins thought
2: adds to it
3: adds
4: adds
5: emotes
6: emotes
7: ends thought

1: O LORD, Thou has searched me and known me.

2: Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up;

3: Thou dost understand my thought from afar.

4: Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down,

2: And art intimately acquainted with all my ways.

3: Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, Thou dost know it all.

4: Thou hast enclosed me behind and before, And laid Thine hand upon me.

5: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

6: It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

ALL: Where can I go from Thy Spirit?

1: Or where can I flee from Thy presence?

2: If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;

3: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.

4: If I take the wings of the dawn,

2: If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

ALL: Even there Thy hand will lead me,

7: And Thy right hand will lay hold of me.

5: If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,"

6: Even the darkness is not dark to Thee, And the night is as bright as the day.

ALL: Darkness and light are alike to Thee.

1: For Thou didst form my inward parts;

2: Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.

ALL: I will give thanks to Thee,

5: For I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

6: Wonderful are Thy works!

7: And my soul knows it very well.

1: My frame was not hidden from Thee,

2: When I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

3: Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance;

4: And in Thy book they were all written,

2: the days that were ordained for me,

7: When as yet there was not one of them.

ALL: How precious also are Thy thoughts to me, O God!

1: How vast is the sum of them!

2: If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

ALL: When I awake, I am still with Thee.

1: O that Thou wouldst slay the wicked, O God;

2: Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.

3: For they speak against Thee wickedly,

4: And Thine enemies take Thy name in vain.

5: Do I not hate those who hate Thee, O LORD?

6: And do I not loathe those who rise up against Thee?

5: I hate them with the utmost hatred;

6: They have become my enemies.

1: Search me, O God, and know my heart;

2: Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

3: And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

ALL: And lead me in the everlasting way.

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