How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Parallel translations
- WEB How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
- 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, 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.
- Jer 29:11For 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.
- Isa 55:8–9For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
- Ps 92:5O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.
- Ps 36:7How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
- Eph 3:9–10And 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:
- Ps 31:19Oh 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!
- Prov 8:31Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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