Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: Psalms 139:18 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 139:18	King James	If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
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.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

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.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Them - Thy wonderful counsels and works on my behalf come constantly into my mind.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

Them - Thy wonderful counsels and works on my behalf come constantly into my mind.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
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 Psa 139:14 to the Psa 139:16 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 Psa 139:15 and Psa 139:16. 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 to 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 endeavor to form any tolerable notion of them, prevail over me - they confound my understanding, and are vastly too multitudinous for my comprehension.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

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 Psa 139:14 to the Psa 139:16 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 Psa 139:15 and Psa 139:16. 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 to 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 endeavor to form any tolerable notion of them, prevail over me - they confound my understanding, and are vastly too multitudinous for my comprehension.

Top