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Psalm 63

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

My soul thirsts for You

1 O Elohim, You are my El; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh longs for You, in a dry and weary land without water.

2 So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. 3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. 4 So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with fat and rich fare, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips, 6 when I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the watches of the night. 7 For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it, shall go down into the depths of the earth. 10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals. 11 But the king shall rejoice in Elohim; everyone who swears by Him shall glory, for the mouths of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

Notes

  • 63:1 Title: "the wilderness of Judah" (as in Judges 1:16) is the dry hill country that falls away from Jerusalem and Hebron toward the Dead Sea. David hid there from Saul (1 Samuel 23-24), and he crossed it again fleeing from Absalom, "toward the way of the wilderness" (2 Samuel 15:23); because verse 11 speaks of "the king," many think of the second flight, but the heading does not say. "Earnestly I seek You" is ashachareka, related to shachar, "dawn": to seek early and eagerly. The thirst of 42:2, "My soul thirsts for Elohim," here takes the shape of the land around him. In Hebrew Bibles the title is verse 1, so the verse numbers there run one higher than in English Bibles.
  • 63:5 "Fat and rich fare" is chelev vadeshen. The fat was the choicest part of an offering and was burned for Yahweh: "All the fat belongs to Yahweh" (Leviticus 3:16); deshen is the "abundance" of 36:8. In a land without water (verse 1), David is filled as at a feast in Elohim's house. Verse 6 says when: on his bed, "in the watches of the night." The night was divided into watches (compare "the middle watch," Judges 7:19), and through them he lies awake and meditates (hagah, the verb of 1:2).
  • 63:8 "Clings to You" is literally "clings after You" (davkah acharekha). Davak is the verb of Genesis 2:24, a man shall "hold fast to his wife," and of Deuteronomy 10:20, "you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him"; "after You" adds the picture of one who follows close behind. David holds on, and he is held: "Your right hand upholds me," as in 18:35, "Your right hand has upheld me."
  • 63:11 Those who hunt David's life will end where the dead lie unburied: "a portion for jackals" (verse 10; shu'alim is the word for foxes in Judges 15:4, here probably the jackals that feed on the slain). "Everyone who swears by Him" most likely means by Elohim, as the Torah commands, "and swear by His name" (Deuteronomy 6:13); some take "Him" as the king, since people also swore by a king's life (compare Genesis 42:15, "as Pharaoh lives").

Psalm 62 · Psalm 64

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