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Read the Bible

New King James Version

Psalms 139:18

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   God Continued...;   Meditation;  

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;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Sand;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Count;   Sand;  

Devotionals:

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

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
If I should count them, they are moe then the sand: when I wake, I am still with thee.
Christian Standard Bible®
If I counted them,they would outnumber the grains of sand;when I wake up, I am still with you.
Hebrew Names Version
If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
Easy-to-Read Version
If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. But when I finished, I would have just begun.
Amplified Bible
If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. 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.
Contemporary English Version
I try to count your thoughts, but they outnumber the grains of sand on the beach. And when I awake, I will find you nearby.
Complete Jewish Bible
If I count them, there are more than grains of sand; if I finish the count, I am still with you.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand; were I to come to the end of them, I would still be with Thee.
King James Version (1611)
If I should count them, they are moe in number then the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I will number them, and they shall be multiplied beyond the sand; I awake, and am still with thee.
English Revised Version
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
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.
Lexham English Bible
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. I awaken, and I am still with you.
Literal Translation
If I should count them, they are more than the sand; when I awake I am still with You.
New Century Version
If I could count them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
New English Translation
If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. Even if I finished counting them, I would still have to contend with you.
New Living Translation
I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
New Life Bible
If I could number them, there would be more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I would recount them! Beyond the sands, they multiply, I rouse myself - and am still with thee.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(138-18) I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand, I rose up and am still with thee.
George Lamsa Translation
If I should count the best of them, they are more in number than the grains of sand; when I awake I am still with thee.
Good News Translation
If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
New American Standard Bible
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
King James Version
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I go about to count them, I fynde that they are mo in number then the sande: and yet whyle I am wakyng I am styll with thee.
New Revised Standard
I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.
Darby Translation
[If] I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
I schal noumbre hem, and thei schulen be multiplied aboue grauel; Y roos vp, and yit Y am with thee.
Young's Literal Translation
I recount them! than the sand they are more, I have waked, and I am still with Thee.
World English Bible
If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.
Revised Standard Version
If I would count them, they are more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee.
Update Bible Version
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with you.
Webster's Bible Translation
[If] I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Bible in Basic English
If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf I tell them, they are mo in nombre then the sonde: when I wake vp, I am present with the.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
Legacy Standard Bible
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.When I awake, I am still with You.

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

they are more: Psalms 40:12

when I awake: Psalms 139:3, Psalms 3:5, Psalms 16:8-11, Psalms 17:15, Psalms 63:6, Psalms 63:7, Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:10

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:63 - to meditate Job 5:9 - without number Psalms 40:5 - thoughts Psalms 71:15 - I know Psalms 73:23 - Nevertheless Psalms 104:34 - meditation Psalms 106:2 - utter Psalms 119:55 - night Psalms 119:148 - eyes Psalms 147:5 - his understanding is infinite Habakkuk 1:9 - they shall gather

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand,...., That is, if I should attempt to do it, it would be as vain and fruitless as to attempt to count the sands upon the seashore, which are innumerable; Psalms 11:5. So Pindar says s, that sand flies number, that is, is not to be numbered; though the Pythian oracle boastingly said t, I know the number of the sand, and the measures of the sea; to which Lucan u may have respect when he says, measure is not wanting to the ocean, nor number to the sand; hence geometricians affect to know them; so Archytas the mathematician, skilled in geometry and arithmetic, is described and derided by Horace w as the measurer of the earth and sea, and of the sand without number; and Archimedes wrote a book called ψαμμιτης x, of the number of the sand, still extant y, in which he proves that it is not infinite, but that if even the whole world was sand it might be numbered; but the thoughts of God are infinite;

when I wake, I am still with thee; after I have been reckoning them up all the day, and then fall asleep at night to refresh nature after such fatiguing researches; when I awake in the morning and go to it again, I am just where I was, and have got no further knowledge of God and his thoughts, and have as many to count as at first setting out, and far from coming to the end of them: or else the sense is, as I was under thine eye and care even in the womb, before I was born, so I have been ever since, and always am, whether sleeping or waking; I lay myself down and sleep in safety, and rise in the morning refreshed and healthful, and still continue the care of thy providence: it would be well if we always awaked with God in our thoughts, sensible of his favours, thankful for them, and enjoying his gracious presence; as it will be the happiness of the saints, that, when they shall awake in the resurrection morn, they shall be with God, and for ever enjoy him.

s Olymp. Ode 2. in fine. t Apud Herodot. Clio, sive l. 1. c. 47. u Pharsal. l. 5. v. 182. w Carmin. l. 1. Ode. 28. v. 1, 2. x Vid. Turnebi Advers. l. 26. c. 1. y Fabrit. Biblioth. Gr. l. 3. c. 22. s. 8.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If I should count them - If I could count them.

They are more in number than the sand - Numberless as the sand on the sea-shore.

When I awake, I am still with thee - When I am lost in deep and profound meditation on this subject, and am aroused again to consciousness, I find the same thing still true. The fact of “my” being forgetful, or lost in profound meditation, has made no difference with thee. Thou art still the same; and the same unceasing care, the same thoughtfulness, still exists in regard to me. Or, the meaning may be, sleeping or waking with me, it is still the same in regard to thee. Thine eyes never close. When mine are closed in sleep, thou art round about me; when I awake from that unconscious state, I find the same thing existing still. I have been lost in forgetfulness of thee in my slumbers; but thou hast not forgotten me. There has been no change - no slumbering - with thee.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 139:18. If I should count them — I should be glad to enumerate so many interesting particulars: but they are beyond calculation.

When I awake — Thou art my Governor and Protector night and day.

I am still with thee. — All my steps in life are ordered by thee: I cannot go out of thy presence; I am ever under the influence of thy Spirit.

The subject, from the 14th verse to the 16th Psalms 139:14-16 inclusive, might have been much more particularly illustrated, but we are taught, by the peculiar delicacy of expression in the Sacred Writings, to avoid, as in this case, the entering too minutely into anatomical details. I would, however, make an additional observation on the subject in the 15th and 16th verses. Psalms 139:15-16 I have already remarked the elegant allusion to embroidery, in the word רקמתי rukkamti, in the astonishing texture of the human body; all of which is said to be done in secret, בסתר bassether, in the secret place, viz., the womb of the mother, which, in the conclusion of the verse, is by a delicate choice of expression termed the lower parts of the earth.

The embryo state, גלם golem, has a more forcible meaning than our word substance amounts to. גלם galam signifies to roll or wrap up together; and expresses the state of the fetus before the constituent members were developed. The best system of modern philosophy allows that ino semine masculino all the members of the future animal are contained; and that these become slowly developed or unfolded, in the case of fowls, by incubation; and in the case of the more perfect animals, by gestation in the maternal matrix. It is no wonder that, in considering these, the psalmist should cry out, How precious, or extraordinary, are thy thoughts! how great is the sum - heads or outlines, of them! The particulars are, indeed, beyond comprehension; even the heads - the general contents, of thy works; while I endeavour to form any tolerable notion of them, prevail over me - they confound my understanding, and are vastly too multitudinous for my comprehension.


 
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