Bible Strands
Psalms 139:18
If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly, moving from a meditation on the vastness of divine thoughts to a declaration of God's unbroken presence. The moment occurs upon waking, shifting from internal reflection to external acknowledgment of continuous divine awareness.
The words — The Hebrew מֵחֹל (me./Chol) means "sand," establishing a quantitative comparison for the uncountable thoughts. The verb הֱקִיצֹתִי (he.ki.Tzo.ti) translates literally as "I awoke," marking the transition from sleep to conscious communion.
The thread — The connection between waking and divine sustenance appears in Psalms 3:5, which records the psalmist's confidence after sleep. The motif of innumerable divine works recurs in Psalms 40:5, where the speaker notes that God's plans and wonders exceed human recounting.
Why it lands — The text states that God's presence persists unchanged through the psalmist's sleep and waking. It requires the reader to accept that divine attention operates independently of human consciousness or physical rest.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Cross-references
- Psalms 3:5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
- Psalms 139:3 You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways.
- Psalms 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
- Psalms 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
- Psalms 17:15 As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.
- Psalms 63:6 When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.
- Isaiah 26:19 Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
- Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Psalms 40:12 For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.