How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
Parallel translations
- KJV How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
- BSB How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!
- NKJV How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
- NASB ¶How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God! How vast is the sum of them!
- NLT How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David marvels at how precious and vast God's thoughts are toward him. It celebrates that the all-knowing God thinks lovingly and abundantly of His people.
Overview
Having pondered God's knowledge of him, David turns to God's thoughts toward him, finding them precious and beyond counting. This shifts the psalm from awe at being known to delight in being cherished. That God's mind is set on His people in steadfast love is supremely shown in the gift of His Son (Romans 8:32).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 40:5Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.
- Jer 29:11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.
- Isa 55:8–9“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
- Ps 92:5How great are your works, Yahweh! Your thoughts are very deep.
- Ps 36:7How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
- Eph 3:9–10and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ;
- Ps 31:19Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!
- Prov 8:31Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 139:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.