Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 3:5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
Psalms 139:3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Psalms 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in orde…
1 Thessalonians 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Psalms 16:8-11 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Psalms 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
Psalms 63:6-7 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.
Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of he…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 139:17–end
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 vas…
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; Psalm 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 an…
Psalm 139:17-18
17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great the sums of them! 18. If I should count them, they shall be multiplied above the sand: I have awaked, and am still with thee.
17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me It is the same Hebrew word, rh, reah, which is used here as in the second verse, and means thought, not companion or friend, as many have rendered it, after the Chaldee translator, under the idea that the Psalmist is already condescending upon the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. The context requires that he should still be considered as speaking of the matchless excellence of divine providence. He therefore repeats -- and…
The Church Fathers
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.
"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.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Meditation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The fact that man is manifest to God even to the very bottom of his nature, and in every place, is now confirmed from the origin of man. The development of the child in the womb was looked upon by the Israelitish Chokma as one of the greatest mysteries, Ecc 11:5; and here the poet praises this coming into being as a marvellous work of the omniscient and omnipresent omnipotence of God. קנה here signifies condere; and סכך not: to cover, protect, as in Psa 140:8; Job 40:22, prop. to cover with network, to hedge in, but: to plait, interweave, viz., with bones, sinews, and veins, like שׂכך in Job 10:11. The reins are made specially prominent in order to mark the, the seat of the tenderest, most s…
How precious are your thoughts about me: God’s investigation reveals loving care. Fellowship with the Lord provides riches beyond description.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 139:18
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. This figure shows the thoughts of God to be altogether innumerable; for nothing can surpass in number the grains of sand which belt the main ocean and all the minor seas. The task of counting God's thoughts of love would be a never ending one. If we should attempt the reckoning we must necessarily fail, for the infinite falls not within the line of our feeble intellect. Even could we count the sands on the seashore, we should not then be able to number God's thoughts, for they are "more in number than the sand." This is not the hyp…
