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 will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then could your descendants also be counted.
And Joseph gathered grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it could not be measured.
There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
To what are we going up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, The people are bigger and taller than we are; the cities are great and fortified to the heavens. And moreover we have seen the [giantlike] sons of the Anakim there.
Hear, O Israel. You are to cross the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you are, cities great and fortified up to the heavens,
It is not [a secret laid up] in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it?
Lord, when You went forth out of Seir, when You marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens also dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, yes, yonder Sinai at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east lay along the valley like locusts for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand on the seashore for multitude.
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In their lives and in their deaths they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
All the people followed him; they played on pipes and rejoiced greatly, so that the earth [resounded] with the joyful sound.
I am weary with my groaning; all night I soak my pillow with tears, I drench my couch with my weeping.
Everyone ate the bread of the mighty [man ate angels' food]; God sent them meat in abundance.
[Those aboard] mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the deeps; their courage melts away because of their plight.
I will increase the number of their widows more than the sand of the seas. I will bring upon them, [both] against the mother of young men and the young men [themselves], a destroyer at noonday. I will cause anguish and terrors to fall upon her [Jerusalem] suddenly.
Sigh therefore, son of man! With breaking heart and with bitterness shall you sigh before their eyes.
And they will dash you down to the ground, you [Jerusalem] and your children within you; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, [all] because you did not come progressively to recognize and know and understand [from observation and experience] the time of your visitation [that is, when God was visiting you, the time in which God showed Himself gracious toward you and offered you salvation through Christ].
Then all who sat in the council (Sanhedrin), as they gazed intently at Stephen, saw that his face had the appearance of the face of an angel.
But the righteousness based on faith [imputed by God and bringing right relationship with Him] says, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into Heaven? that is, to bring Christ down; Or who will descend into the abyss? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead [as if we could be saved by our own efforts].
If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to and different from that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment)!
And [yet] although my physical condition was [such] a trial to you, you did not regard it with contempt, or scorn and loathe and reject me; but you received me as an angel of God, [even] as Christ Jesus [Himself]!
So from one man, though he was physically as good as dead, there have sprung descendants whose number is as the stars of heaven and as countless as the innumerable sands on the seashore.