TRV
Translation
King James Version
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Complete Jewish Bible
If I count them, there are more than grains of sand; if I finish the count, I am still with you.
Berean Standard Bible
If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
American Standard Version
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee.
World English Bible Messianic
If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
Geneva Bible (1599)
If I should count them, they are moe then the sand: when I wake, I am still with thee.
Young's Literal Translation
I recount them! than the sand they are more, I have waked, and I am still with Thee.
In the KJVVerse 16,258 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 139 verses 17–24
17 ¶ How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Here the psalmist makes application of the doctrine of God's omniscience, divers ways.
I. He acknowledges, with wonder and thankfulness, the care God had taken of him all his days, Psa 139:17, Psa 139:18. God, who knew him, thought of him, and his thoughts towards him were thoughts of love, thought of good, and not of evil, Jer 29:11. God's omniscience, which might justly have watched over us to do us hurt, has been employed for us, and has watched over us to do us good, Jer 31:28. God's counsels concerning us and our welfare have been, 1. Precious to admiration: How precious are they! They are deep in themselves, such as cannot possibly be fathomed and comprehended. Providence has had a vast reach in its dispensations concerning us, and has brought things about for our good quite beyond our contrivance and foresight. They are dear to us; we must think of them with a great deal of reverence, and yet with pleasure and thankfulness. Our thoughts concerning God must be delightful to us, above any other thoughts. 2. Numerous to admiration: How great is the sum of them! We cannot conceive how many God's kind counsels have been concerning us, how many good turns he has done us, and what variety of mercies we have received from him. If we would count them, the heads of them, much more the particulars of them, they are more in number than the sand, and yet every one great and very considerable, Psa 40:5. We cannot conceive the multitude of God's compassions, which are all new every morning. 3. Constant at all times: "When I awake, every morning, I am still with thee, under thy eye and care, safe and easy under thy protection." This bespeaks also the continual devout sense David had of the eye of God upon him: When I awake I am with thee, in my thoughts; and it would help to keep us in the fear of the Lord all the day long if, when we awake in the morning, our first thoughts were of him and we did then set him before us.
II. He concludes from this doctrine that ruin will certainly be the end of sinners. God knows all the wickedness of the wicked, and therefore he will reckon for it: "Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God! for all their wickedness is open before thee, however it may be artfully disguised and coloured over, to hide it from the eye of the world. However thou suffer them to prosper for a while, surely thou wilt slay them at last." Now observe, 1. The reason why God will punish them, because they daringly affront him and set him at defiance (Psa 139:20): They speak against thee wickedly; they set their mouth against the heavens (Psa 73:9), and shall be called to account for the hard speeches they have spoken against him, Jde 1:15. They are his enemies, and declare their enmity by taking his name in vain, as we show our contempt of a man if we make a by-word of his name, and never mention him but in a way of jest and banter. Those that profane the sacred forms of swearing or praying by using them in an impertinent irreverent manner take God's name in vain, and thereby show themselves enemies to him. Some make it to be a description of hypocrites: "They speak of thee for mischief; they talk of God, pretending to piety, but it is with some ill design, for a cloak of maliciousness; and, being enemies to God, while they pretend friendship, they take his name in vain; they swear falsely." 2. The use David makes of this prospect which he has of the ruin of the wicked. (1.) He defies them: "Depart from me, you bloody men; you shall not debauch me, for I will not admit your friendship nor have fellowship with you; and you cannot destroy me, for, being under God's protection, he shall force you to depart from me." (2.) He detests them (Psa 139:21, Psa 139:22): "Lord, thou knowest the heart, and canst witness for me; do not I hate those that hate thee, and for that reason, because they hate thee? I hate them because I love thee, and hate to see such affronts and indignities put upon thy blessed name. Am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee, grieved to see their rebellion and to foresee their ruin, which it will certainly end in?" Note, Sin is hated, and sinners are lamented, by all that fear God. "I hate them" (that is, "I hate the work of them that turn aside," as he explains himself, Psa 101:3) "with a sincere and perfect hatred; I count those that are enemies to God as enemies to me, and will not have any intimacy with them," Psa 69:8.
III. He appeals to God concerning his sincerity, Psa 139:23, Psa 139:24. 1. He desires that as far as he was in the wrong God would discover it to him. Those that are upright can take comfort in God's omniscience as a witness of their uprightness, and can with a humble confidence beg of him to search and try them, to discover them to themselves (for a good man desires to know the worst of himself) and to discover them to others. He that means honestly could wish he had a window in his breast that any man may look into his heart: "Lord, I hope I am not in a wicked way, but see if there be any wicked way in me, any corrupt inclination remaining; let me see it; and root it out of me, for I do not allow it." 2. He desires that, as far as he was in the right, he might be forwarded in it, which he that knows the heart knows how to do effectually: Lead me in the way everlasting. Note, (1.) The way of godliness is an everlasting way; it is everlastingly true and good, pleasing to God and profitable to us, and will end in everlasting life. It is the way of antiquity (so some), the good old way. (2.) All the saints desire to be kept and led in this way, that they may not miss it, turn out of it, nor tire in it.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 17–24. Public domain.
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CyprianAD 258
Treatise III. On the Lapsed 27
Let them not persuade themselves that they should not do penance, who, although they have not contaminated their hands by impious sacrifices, yet have defiled their consciences with certificates. That profession is of one who denies; the testimony is of a Christian who rejects what he had been. He said that he had done what another actually did, and, although it is written, “You cannot serve two masters,” he served a secular master, he submitted to his edict, he obeyed human authority rather than God. He should have seen whether he published what he committed with less scandal or less guilt among people; however, he will not be able to escape and avoid God as his judge, for the Holy Spirit says in the Psalms, “Your eyes have seen my imperfection, and all will be written in your book,” and again, “People look on the face, but God [looks] on the heart. Let the Lord himself also forewarn and instruct you with these words: “And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the desires and hearts.” He perceives the concealed and the secret and considers the hidden, nor can anyone evade the eyes of God who says, “Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? Shall a person be hid in secret places and I not see him?” He sees the hearts and breasts of each one, and, when about to pass judgment not only on our deeds but also on our words and thoughts, he looks into the minds and the wills conceived in the very recess of a still closed heart.
Ephrem the SyrianAD 373
COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 18:17
Watch, for when the body is sleeping it is nature that holds sway over us, and our activity is directed not by our wills but by the impulse of nature. When a heavy torpor of weakness and sadness rules over the soul, it is the enemy who holds sway over it and leads it against its own desire. It is force that holds sway over nature and the enemy who holds sway over the soul. That is why our Lord spoke of vigilance of soul and of body lest the body sink into a heavy sleep and the soul into a sluggishness born of timidity; just as [Scripture] says, “Let justice awaken you,” and, “When I awake I am still with you,” and, “Do not lose heart.” This is why “we do not lose heart” in the ministry confided to us.
Ambrose of MilanAD 397
Interrogation of Job and David, Book 2, Chapter 5
Therefore the Lord supported us when he fashioned us; he supports us also when he bids us to be born. Consequently, the just person says, “You have supported me from my mother’s womb.” Whose mother’s? “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Those, whom the Lord forms, he also supports; he supports them even in their coming forth: “And before you came forth from your mother’s womb, I sanctified you.” He is our supporter, for he has supported us with his hands. He is called a supporter as the Creator of the human race. And he is our supporter, for he has supported us by his visitation, that he may protect us. In view of this, the psalmist himself says in another passage, “He that dwells in the aid of the most High shall say to the Lord, ‘You are my supporter and my refuge.’ ” The first support is that of God’s working in us, the second in that of his protection of us. Indeed, listen to Moses saying, “Spreading his wings he received them and supported them upon his shoulders.” He supported them like the eagle, which was accustomed to examine its progeny, so as to keep and to bring up those whom it observed to possess the qualities of a true offspring and the gift of an undamaged constitution and to reject those in whom it detected weakness of a degenerate origin even at that tender age.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 139
"I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand" [Psalm 139:18]. By means of them, who "wandered in the day," lo! There has been born all this great multitude, which now is like the sand innumerable, save by God. For He said, "they shall be multiplied above the sand," and yet He had said, "I will number them." The very same who are numbered, "shall be multiplied above the sand." For by Him is the sand numbered, by whom "the very hairs of our head are numbered." [Matthew 10:30] "I have risen, and yet am I with You." Already have I suffered, says He, already have I been buried; lo! I have risen, and not yet do they understand that I am with them. "Yet am I with You," that is, not yet with them, for not yet do they recognise Me. For thus do we read in the Gospel, that after the resurrection of oar Lord Jesus Christ, when He appeared to them, they did not at once know Him. There is another meaning also: "I have risen, and yet am I with You," as though He would signify this present time, wherein He is as yet hidden at the right hand of the Father, before He is revealed in the brightness, wherein He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
The psalmist in Psalms 139:18 expresses profound awe at the immeasurable nature of God's thoughts concerning him, declaring them to be more numerous than grains of sand. This declaration is immediately followed by the comforting assurance that, even after the unconsciousness of sleep, he awakes to the unbroken reality of God's intimate and enduring presence. The verse powerfully encapsulates God's ceaseless, personal, and comprehensive engagement with the individual, highlighting a divine attentiveness that transcends human comprehension and time.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 139:18 is rich with several powerful literary devices that enhance its theological impact. Hyperbole is prominently featured in the phrase "more in number than the sand," which dramatically exaggerates the quantity of God's thoughts to emphasize their immeasurability and overwhelming abundance, making it clear that divine care is beyond human comprehension. This is intricately linked with Simile, as God's thoughts are directly compared to the countless grains of sand, creating a vivid and tangible image of infinite detail and meticulous care. The verse also employs potent Imagery, evoking the concrete sense of countless sand grains and the universal, relatable experience of waking from sleep, thereby making the abstract concepts of God's thoughts and presence more accessible and impactful. Furthermore, there is a subtle yet profound Contrast established between the finite human endeavor of counting and the infinite divine reality of immeasurable thoughts, highlighting the vast disparity between human limitation and divine infinitude. Finally, the concluding declaration "I am still with thee" serves as a powerful statement of Affirmation and Assurance, reinforcing the psalmist's unwavering faith in God's perpetual companionship and the unbroken nature of their relationship.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 139:18 stands as a profound theological declaration concerning the very character of God, revealing His exhaustive knowledge, boundless love, and unwavering presence. It firmly establishes that God's engagement with humanity is not sporadic, distant, or superficial, but rather deeply personal, constant, and utterly immeasurable. This truth forms a foundational pillar for the doctrine of divine providence, assuring believers that they are never outside of God's watchful eye and meticulously caring heart. It powerfully refutes any notion of a remote or indifferent deity, instead portraying a God who is intimately involved in every moment of our existence, whose thoughts towards us are not merely numerous but also "precious" (Psalms 139:17). This profound understanding cultivates a deep sense of security, intrinsic significance, and overwhelming gratitude, fostering a relationship built on unwavering trust and heartfelt worship.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
This verse offers an immense wellspring of comfort and profound reassurance in a world that frequently leaves individuals feeling insignificant, forgotten, or profoundly alone. To truly internalize the truth that the Creator of the universe has an immeasurable number of precious thoughts about you fundamentally transforms one's understanding of personal value and divine love. It means that even in moments of solitude, overwhelming anxiety, or the unconsciousness of sleep, God's attentive presence never wavers. This liberating truth invites us to live with a heightened, conscious awareness of God's intimate nearness, finding deep solace in His unending care and discovering profound purpose in His constant thoughts. It encourages us to approach each new day, and indeed the very act of waking, with a conscious recognition of His enduring companionship, thereby fostering a deeper sense of security, prompting spontaneous worship, and motivating us to live lives that genuinely honor such intimate and boundless divine love.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "more in number than the sand" signify in this verse?
Answer: The phrase "more in number than the sand" is an ancient and powerful idiom used to convey an immeasurable, countless quantity. In the context of Psalms 139:18, it signifies the overwhelming abundance and infinite nature of God's thoughts concerning the psalmist. It is not merely that God thinks about us, but that His thoughts are perpetually focused, meticulously detailed, and utterly beyond our comprehension in their vastness, highlighting His ceaseless and comprehensive care. This idiom is also used in other significant biblical contexts, such as God's promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore or the stars in the sky, emphasizing divine faithfulness to covenant promises.
How does "when I awake, I am still with thee" relate to God's presence?
Answer: This clause speaks profoundly to the unbroken continuity of God's presence and the psalmist's intimate communion with Him. It implies that even through the unconsciousness and vulnerability of sleep, God's presence remains constant and unwavering. Upon waking, the psalmist's immediate conscious thought is the enduring reality of God's nearness, providing immense comfort, security, and a deep sense of belonging. It underscores the truth that God's relationship with His children is not interrupted by time, circumstance, or state of being, but is constant and unwavering, reflecting His unchanging character and His promise to never leave or forsake us, as seen in Hebrews 13:5.
Is this verse only about the psalmist, or does it apply to all believers?
Answer: While Psalm 139 is presented as a deeply personal meditation by the psalmist, its profound theological truths about God's character and His relationship with humanity are universally applicable to all believers. The God who knew and cared for the psalmist with such intricate intimacy is the same God who knows and cares for every individual who trusts in Him. The principles of God's omniscience, omnipresence, and personal, boundless love are foundational to the Christian faith, making this verse a timeless source of comfort, assurance, and worship for all who seek Him. The New Testament further affirms God's meticulous knowledge of His creation, even down to the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30), reinforcing the intensely personal and comprehensive nature of His care for each of His beloved children.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 139:18 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The immeasurable thoughts of God, too numerous for any human to count, are perfectly embodied, articulated, and revealed in Christ. He is the express image of God's being, the Word made flesh, through whom God's infinite wisdom, boundless love, and intricate knowledge are made fully manifest to humanity (John 1:14 and Colossians 1:15). Furthermore, the psalmist's comforting declaration, "when I awake, I am still with thee," points forward to the supreme reality of God's constant, indwelling presence with humanity through Emmanuel, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23). In Christ, God's presence is not merely a comforting thought or an abstract theological concept, but a living, dynamic, and indwelling reality for believers through the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised would abide with His disciples forever (John 14:16-18). Jesus Himself assures His followers, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20), echoing and infinitely expanding upon the psalmist's deeply personal experience of unbroken communion. Through Christ's atoning work and resurrection, the intimate relationship longed for by the psalmist is fully restored, allowing believers to truly be "with God" in a way that transcends even death, culminating in the glorious eternal reality where God will dwell perfectly with His redeemed people, and they "shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God" (Revelation 21:3).