Reference: Hyperbole
Watsons
HYPERBOLE. This figure, in its representation of things or objects, either magnifies or diminishes them beyond or below their proper limits: it is common in all languages, and is of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures. Thus, things which are lofty are said to reach up to heaven, De 1:28; 9:1; Ps 107:26. So things which are beyond the reach or capacity of man are said to be in "heaven," in the "deep," or "beyond the sea," De 30:12; Ro 10:6-7. So a great quantity or number is commonly expressed by the "sand of the sea," the "dust of the earth," and the "stars of heaven," Ge 13:16; 41:49; Jg 7:12; 1Sa 13:5; 1Ki 4:29; 2Ch 1:9; Jer 15:8; Heb 11:12. In like manner we meet with "smaller than grasshoppers," Nu 13:33, to denote extreme diminutiveness; "swifter than eagles," 2Sa 1:23, to intimate extreme celerity; the "earth trembled," the "mountains melted," Jg 5:4-5; the "earth rent," 1Ki 1:40. "I make my bed to swim;" "rivers of tears run down mine eyes." So we read of "angels' food," Ps 6:6; 119:136; 78:25; the "face of an angel," Ac 6:15; and the "tongue of an angel," 1Co 13:1. See also Ga 1:8; 4:14. We read "sigh with the breaking of thy loins," Eze 21:6, that is, most deeply. So we read that "the stones would cry out," and "they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another," Lu 19:40,44; that is, there shall be a total desolation.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And I have set thy seed as dust of the earth, so that, if one is able to number the dust of the earth, even thy seed is numbered;
and Joseph gathereth corn as sand of the sea, multiplying exceedingly, until that he hath ceased to number, for there is no number.
and there we saw the Nephilim, sons of Anak, of the Nephilim; and we are in our own eyes as grasshoppers; and so we were in their eyes.'
whither are we going up? our brethren have melted our heart, saying, A people greater and taller than we, cities great and fenced to heaven, and also sons of Anakim -- we have seen there.
'Hear, Israel, thou art passing over to-day the Jordan, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself; cities great and fenced in the heavens;
It is not in the heavens, -- saying, Who doth go up for us into the heavens, and doth take it for us, and doth cause us to hear it -- that we may do it.
Jehovah, in Thy going forth out of Seir, In Thy stepping out of the field of Edom, Earth trembled, also the heavens dropped, Also thick clouds dropped water. Hills flowed from the face of Jehovah, This one -- Sinai -- From the face of Jehovah, God of Israel.
and Midian and Amalek, and all the sons of the east are lying in the valley, as the locust for multitude, and of their camels there is no number, as sand which is on the sea-shore for multitude.
Saul and Jonathan! They are loved and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they have not been parted. Than eagles they have been lighter, Than lions they have been mightier!
And all the people come up after him, and the people are piping with pipes, and rejoicing -- great joy, and the earth rendeth with their voice.
I have been weary with my sighing, I meditate through all the night on my bed, With my tear my couch I waste.
They go up to the heavens, they go down to the depths, Their soul in evil is melted.
Its widows have been more to Me than the sand of the seas, I brought in to them -- against the mother -- A young man -- a spoiler -- at noon. I caused to fall upon her suddenly, wrath and trouble.
And thou, son of man, sigh with breaking of loins, yea, with bitterness thou dost sigh before their eyes,
and he answering said to them, 'I say to you, that, if these shall be silent, the stones will cry out!'
and lay thee low, and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, because thou didst not know the time of thy inspection.'
and gazing at him, all those sitting in the sanhedrim saw his face as it were the face of a messenger.
and the righteousness of faith doth thus speak: 'Thou mayest not say in thine heart, Who shall go up to the heaven,' that is, Christ to bring down? or, 'Who shall go down to the abyss,' that is, Christ out of the dead to bring up.
If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;
but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be!
and my trial that is in my flesh ye did not despise nor reject, but as a messenger of God ye did receive me -- as Christ Jesus;
wherefore, also from one were begotten -- and that of one who had become dead -- as the stars of the heaven in multitude, and as sand that is by the sea-shore -- the innumerable.