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

PSALMS 139:18KJV
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Psalms 139:18 (KJV)

What does Psalms 139:18 mean?

Psalms 139:18 says that if the writer tried to count God’s thoughts or blessings, they would be more than the grains of sand, and even when he wakes up, he finds that God is still with him. The verse expresses awe at the endless nature of God’s care and presence.

King David is speaking to God in this psalm, reflecting on how deeply and constantly God knows and watches over him. The verse comes after David has described God’s thoughts as precious and countless, and here he uses the image of sand to show just how immeasurable they are. Waking up and still being with God suggests that God’s presence is unbroken, even through sleep.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 139:18

  • "count" (סָפַר, saphar): This word means to count or reckon, emphasizing the attempt to measure something vast. David is saying that even if he tried to add up God’s thoughts or blessings, it would be impossible.
  • "number" (רָבָה, ravah): This word carries the idea of being many or multiplied. It highlights the overwhelming abundance of what David is describing.
  • "sand" (חוֹל, chol): Sand is a common biblical image for something countless or infinite. By comparing God’s thoughts to sand, David stresses their limitless nature.
  • "awake" (קוּץ, quts): This word means to wake up from sleep. David’s mention of waking up and still being with God shows that God’s presence is continuous, not limited by time or consciousness.
  • "still" (עוֹד, od): This word means "yet" or "still," reinforcing the idea that nothing interrupts God’s nearness—not even sleep.

Why Psalms 139:18 matters

  • Psalms 139:18 clears up any idea that God’s care or attention is limited or can be exhausted; David’s language shows it is beyond human counting.
  • The verse emphasizes that God’s presence is not just a daytime or conscious experience—God is with a person even when they are asleep and unaware.
  • This verse connects to the larger theme of Psalms 139, which is about God’s intimate knowledge and constant presence with every person, everywhere, at all times.

Where else these words appear

“awake” Hebrew H6974 · used in 21 verses

  • 1 Samuel 26:12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.
  • Psalms 44:23 Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
  • Jeremiah 31:26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.

“sand” Hebrew H2344 · used in 23 verses

  • Genesis 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
  • 1 Samuel 13:5 And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.
  • Proverbs 27:3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.

“still” Hebrew H5750 · used in 30 verses

  • Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
  • Genesis 46:30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
  • Deuteronomy 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,