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

I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand: I rose up and am still with thee.

I recount them! than the sand they are more, I have waked, and I am still with Thee.

If I made up their number, it would be more than the grains of sand; when I am awake, I am still with you.

If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand; Were I to come to the end of them, I would still be with Thee.

If I should count them - If I could count them.
They are more in number than the sand - Numberless as the sand on the sea-shore.
When I awake, I am still with thee - When I am lost in deep and profound meditation on this subject, and am aroused again to consciousness, I find the same thing still true. The fact of "my" being forgetful, or lost in profound meditation, has made no difference with thee. Thou art still the same; and the same unceasing care, the same thoughtfulness, still exists in regard to me. Or, the meaning may be, sleeping or waking with me, it is still the same in regard to thee. Thine eyes never close. When mine are closed in sleep, thou art round about me; when I awake from that unconscious state, I find the same thing existing still. I have been lost in forgetfulness of thee in my slumbers; but thou hast not forgotten me. There has been no change - no slumbering - with thee.

If I should count them - I should be glad to enumerate so many interesting particulars: but they are beyond calculation.
When I awake - Thou art my Governor and Protector night and day.
I am still with thee - All my steps in life are ordered by thee: I cannot go out of thy presence; I am ever under the influence of thy Spirit.
The subject, from the Psalm 139:14 to the Psalm 139:16 inclusive, might have been much more particularly illustrated, but we are taught, by the peculiar delicacy of expression in the Sacred Writings, to avoid, as in this case, the entering too minutely into anatomical details. I would, however, make an additional observation on the subject in the Psalm 139:15 and Psalm 139:16. I have already remarked the elegant allusion to embroidery, in the word רקמתי rukkamti, in the astonishing texture of the human body; all of which is said to be done in secret, בסתר bassether, in the secret place, viz., the womb of the mother, which, in the conclusion of the verse, is by a delicate choice of expression termed the lower parts of the earth.
The embryo state, גלם golem, has a more forcible meaning than our word substance amounts to. גלם galam signifies to roll or wrap up together; and expresses the state of the fetus before the constituent members were developed. The best system of modern philosophy allows that to semine masculino all the members of the future animal are contained; and that these become slowly developed or unfolded, in the case of fowls, by incubation; and in the case of the more perfect animals, by gestation in the maternal matrix. It is no wonder that, in considering these, the psalmist should cry out, How precious, or extraordinary, are thy thoughts! how great is the sum-heads or outlines, of them! The particulars are, indeed, beyond comprehension; even the heads - the general contents, of thy works; while I endeavor to form any tolerable notion of them, prevail over me - they confound my understanding, and are vastly too multitudinous for my comprehension.

[If] I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, (n) I am still with thee.
(n) I continually see new opportunity to meditate in your wisdom, and to praise you.

If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand,...., That is, if I should attempt to do it, it would be as vain and fruitless as to attempt to count the sands upon the seashore, which are innumerable; Psalm 11:5. So Pindar says (s), that sand flies number, that is, is not to be numbered; though the Pythian oracle boastingly said (t), I know the number of the sand, and the measures of the sea; to which Lucan (u) may have respect when he says, measure is not wanting to the ocean, nor number to the sand; hence geometricians affect to know them; so Archytas the mathematician, skilled in geometry and arithmetic, is described and derided by Horace (w) as the measurer of the earth and sea, and of the sand without number; and Archimedes wrote a book called (x), of the number of the sand, still extant (y), in which he proves that it is not infinite, but that if even the whole world was sand it might be numbered; but the thoughts of God are infinite;
when I wake, I am still with thee; after I have been reckoning them up all the day, and then fall asleep at night to refresh nature after such fatiguing researches; when I awake in the morning and go to it again, I am just where I was, and have got no further knowledge of God and his thoughts, and have as many to count as at first setting out, and far from coming to the end of them: or else the sense is, as I was under thine eye and care even in the womb, before I was born, so I have been ever since, and always am, whether sleeping or waking; I lay myself down and sleep in safety, and rise in the morning refreshed and healthful, and still continue the care of thy providence: it would be well if we always awaked with God in our thoughts, sensible of his favours, thankful for them, and enjoying his gracious presence; as it will be the happiness of the saints, that, when they shall awake in the resurrection morn, they shall be with God, and for ever enjoy him.
(s) Olymp. Ode 2. in fine. (t) Apud Herodot. Clio, sive l. 1. c. 47. (u) Pharsal. l. 5. v. 182. (w) Carmin. l. 1. Ode. 28. v. 1, 2. (x) Vid. Turnebi Advers. l. 26. c. 1. (y) Fabrit. Biblioth. Gr. l. 3. c. 22. s. 8.

Them - Thy wonderful counsels and works on my behalf come constantly into my mind.