6. How does the Bible show that the number of the stars is vast from a human standpoint?

⁶ Even more awesome than the size of the stars is their number. In fact, the Bible suggests that the stars are virtually innumerable, as difficult to count as “the sand of the sea.” (Jeremiah 33:22) This statement implies that there are far more stars than the naked eye can see. After all, if a Bible writer, such as Jeremiah, had looked up at the night sky and had tried to count the visible stars, he would have counted only three thousand or so, for that is how many the unaided human eye can detect on a clear night. That number might be comparable to the number of grains in a mere handful of sand. In reality, though, the number of stars is overwhelming, like the sand of the sea.b Who could count such a number?

7. How would you describe the number of stars in our galaxy or the number of galaxies in the universe?

⁷ Isaiah 40:26 answers: “Lift up your eyes to heaven and see. Who has created these things? It is the One who brings out their army by number; he calls them all by name.” Psalm 147:4 says: “He counts the number of the stars.” What is “the number of the stars”? That is not a simple question. Astronomers have estimated that there are over 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone.c Some say that there are far more. But ours is just one of many galaxies, and many of those swarm with even more stars. How many galaxies are there? The estimates of astronomers have ranged into the hundreds of billions, even trillions. So far, it seems, man cannot even determine the number of galaxies, let alone the exact sum of all the billions of stars they contain. Yet, Jehovah knows that number. Moreover, he gives each star its own name!