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Read the Bible

New King James Version

Psalms 139:17

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   God Continued...;   Meditation;   Thompson Chain Reference - God's;   Thoughts;   The Topic Concordance - Creation;   God;   Greatness;   Man;   Name;   Predestination;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Psalms, the Book of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Omnipresence of God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Knowledge;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ethics;   Nature;   Psalms;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Mary;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Precious;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for September 18;   Every Day Light - Devotion for December 25;  

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Geneva Bible (1587)
Howe deare therefore are thy thoughtes vnto me, O God! how great is ye summe of them!
Christian Standard Bible®
God, how precious your thoughts are to me;how vast their sum is!
Hebrew Names Version
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Easy-to-Read Version
Your thoughts are beyond my understanding. They cannot be measured!
Amplified Bible
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
American Standard Version
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
Contemporary English Version
Your thoughts are far beyond my understanding, much more than I could ever imagine.
Complete Jewish Bible
God, how I prize your thoughts! How many of them there are!
JPS Old Testament (1917)
How weighty also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
King James Version (1611)
Howe precious also are thy thoughts vnto me, O God: how great is the summe of them?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But thy friends, O God, have been greatly honoured by me; their rule has been greatly strengthened.
English Revised Version
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Berean Standard Bible
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
Lexham English Bible
And to me, how precious are your thoughts, O God; how vast is their sum.
Literal Translation
And how precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
New Century Version
God, your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many!
New English Translation
How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! How vast is their sum total!
New Living Translation
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
New Life Bible
Your thoughts are of great worth to me, O God. How many there are!
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
To me, then, how precious have thy desires become, O GOD! How numerous, the heads of them!
Douay-Rheims Bible
(138-17) But to me thy friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
George Lamsa Translation
How precious also are thy mercies to me, O God! How great is the sum of them?
Good News Translation
O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are!
New American Standard Bible
How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them!
King James Version
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Howe pretious be thy cogitations towardes me O God? howe greatly be the summe of them increased?
New Revised Standard
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Darby Translation
But how precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe, God, thi frendis ben maad onourable ful myche to me; the princeheed of hem is coumfortid ful myche.
Young's Literal Translation
And to me how precious have been Thy thoughts, O God, how great hath been their sum!
World English Bible
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Revised Standard Version
How precious to me are thy thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Update Bible Version
How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
Webster's Bible Translation
How precious also are thy thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Bible in Basic English
How dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
How deare are yi coucels vnto me o God? O how greate is the summe of them?
THE MESSAGE
Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them! I couldn't even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! And please, God, do away with wickedness for good! And you murderers—out of here!— all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations. See how I hate those who hate you, God , see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred. Your enemies are my enemies!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Legacy Standard Bible
How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God!How vast is the sum of them!

Contextual Overview

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. 19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. 20 For they speak against You wickedly;Your enemies take Your name in vain. [fn] 21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

precious: Psalms 40:5, Proverbs 8:31, Isaiah 55:8, Isaiah 55:9, Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 3:9, Ephesians 3:10

how great: Psalms 31:19, Psalms 36:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:63 - to meditate Psalms 63:6 - General Psalms 68:19 - daily Psalms 71:15 - I know Psalms 92:5 - thoughts Psalms 104:34 - meditation Psalms 106:2 - utter Psalms 119:148 - eyes Psalms 147:5 - his understanding is infinite

Gill's Notes on the Bible

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!.... The word r signifies that which is scarce and rare, and not to be attained and enjoyed; see 1 Samuel 3:1; the thoughts and counsels of God are impenetrable and unsearchable; he knows our thoughts, as Aben Ezra observes, but we do not know his, Psalms 139:2; as well as it likewise signifies the worth and value of them; God's thoughts are infinitely beyond ours, and infinitely more valuable and more important, and are concerning our welfare and happiness: it is marvellous that God should think of us at all; it is more so that his thoughts should not be thoughts of evil, to bring that evil upon its we deserve, but thoughts of peace and reconciliation in and by his Son, in whom he was reconciling the world to himself; thoughts of salvation and eternal life, and of the way and means of bringing it about; thoughts to provide for our present supply in this world, and to lay up for us for the world to come; see Jeremiah 29:11. It may be interpreted of the thoughts which David had of God in his meditations of him, which were sweet, precious, and comfortable to him; of his lovingkindness to him, covenant grace, precious promises, and gracious dealings with him; but the former sense seems best. The Targum is,

"to me how precious they that love thee, the righteous, O God!''

and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it, "thy friends";

how great is the sum of them! or "the heads of them"; that is, not the chief of thy friends, but the sum of thy thoughts, these in the bulk, in the general, are not to be counted; and much less the particulars of them, these are not to be entered into or described.

r יקרו "difficiles", Cocceius; "quam rarae"; so some in Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! - On the word “thoughts,” see the notes at Psalms 139:2. Compare Psalms 139:23. The remark is made here doubtless in view of the numberless “thoughts” involved in planning and forming a frame so wondrous, and in the care necessary to bring it to perfection; to develop it; to provide for it; to guard and defend it. How many “thoughts” of a parent are employed in behalf of his children, in providing for them; teaching them; counseling them; anticipating their needs. How manymore thoughts are needful on the part of God in reference to each one of us: for there are numberless things necessary for us which cannot occupy the mind of a parent, since he cannot accomplish these things for us; they do not lie within his province, or in his power.

How great is the sum of them - literally, “How strong are the heads of them.” That is, The heading of them, or the summing of them up, would be a task beyond the power of man. And who “could” estimate the number of the “thoughts” necessarily bestowed on himself by his Maker in all the care exercised over him; all the arrangements for his development and growth; all that is done to defend him from danger; all that is indispensable in providing for his needs; all that was necessary to secure the salvation of his soul! See the notes at Psalms 40:5.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 139:17. How precious also are thy thoughts — רעיך reeycha, thy cogitations; a Chaldaism, as before.

How great is the sum of them! — מה עצמו ראשיהם mah atsemu rasheyhem; How strongly rational are the heads or principal subjects of them! But the word may apply to the bones, atsamoth, the structure and uses of which are most curious and important.


 
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