Psalms 139 · Verse 17

Psalms 139:17

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Psalms 139:17, King James Version

Psalms 139:17 in other translations

BSBHow precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
WEBHow precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
ASVHow precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
YLTAnd to me how precious have been Thy thoughts, O God, how great hath been their sum!
DARBYBut how precious are thy thoughts unto me, OGod! how great is the sum of them!
BBEHow dear are your thoughts to me, O God! how great is the number of them!
WebsterHow precious also are thy thoughts to me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

What does Psalms 139:17 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 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, עצמות atsamoth, the structure and uses of which are most curious and important.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 139:17-24
God's counsels concerning us and our welfare are deep, such as cannot be known. We cannot think how many mercies we have received from him. It would help to keep us in the fear of the Lord all the day long, if, when we wake in the morning, our first thoughts were of him: and how shall we admire and bless our God for his precious salvation, when we awake in the world of glory! Surely we ought not to use our members and senses, which are so curiously fashioned, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But our immortal and rational souls are a still more noble work and gift of God. Yet if it were not for his precious thoughts of love to us, our reason and our living for ever would, through our sins, prove the occasion of our eternal misery. How should we then delight to meditate on God's love to sinners in Jesus Christ, the sum of which exceeds all reckoning! Sin is hated, and sinners lamented, by all who fear the Lord. Yet while we shun them we should pray for them; with God their conversion and salvation are possible. As the Lord knows us thoroughly, and we are strangers to ourselves, we should earnestly desire and pray to be searched and proved by his word and Spirit. if there be any wicked way in me, let me see it; and do thou root it out of me. The way of godliness is pleasing to God, and profitable to us; and will end in everlasting life. It is the good old way. All the saints desire to be kept and led in this way, that they may not miss it, turn out of it, or tire in it.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Psalms 139:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְלִ֗יve.Liand to me
מַה\־mah-how!H4100
יָּקְר֣וּya.ke.Ruthey are preciousH3365
רֵעֶ֣יךָre.'Ei.khathoughts yourH7454
אֵ֑ל'ElO GodH410
מֶ֥הmehhow!H4100
עָ֝צְמוּ'A.tze.muthey are vastH6105
רָאשֵׁיהֶֽם\׃ra.shei.Hemsum<s> theirH7218

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 139:17

  • 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 order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

  • Jeremiah 29:11

    For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

  • Isaiah 55:8-9

    For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

  • Psalms 92:5

    O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

  • Psalms 36:7

    How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

  • Ephesians 3:9-10

    And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

  • Psalms 31:19

    Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

  • Proverbs 8:31

    Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
precious.
40:5; Pr 8:31; Isa 55:8,9; Jer 29:11; Eph 3:9,10
how great.
31:19; 36:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 139:16

    Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

  • Psalms 139:17

    How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

  • Psalms 139:18

    If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Read all of Psalms 139

Psalms 139:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Así que ¡cuán preciosos me son, oh Dios, tus pensamientos! ¡cuán multiplicadas son sus cuentas!
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Combien me sont précieuses tes pensées, ô ✶Dieu! combien en est grande la somme!
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und wie köstlich sind mir deine Gedanken, o Gott! wie gewaltig sind ihre Summen!