42:2 I thirst 1 for God,
for the living God.
I say, 2 “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” 3
A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. 5
63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! 6
My soul thirsts 7 for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched 8 land where there is no water.
143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; 9
my soul thirsts for you in a parched 10 land. 11
41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched from thirst.
I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers; 12
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
49:10 They will not be hungry or thirsty;
the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, 13
for one who has compassion on them will guide them;
he will lead them to springs of water.
65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:
“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!
Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!
Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!
5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger 14 and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
1:53 he has filled the hungry with good things, 15 and has sent the rich away empty. 16
6:21 “Blessed are you who hunger 17 now, for you will be satisfied. 18
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 19
1 tn Or “my soul thirsts.”
2 tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
3 tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).
4 sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.
5 sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.
6 tn Or “I will seek you.”
7 tn Or “I thirst.”
8 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.
9 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
10 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
11 tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
12 tn Heb “will answer them” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
13 tn Heb “and the heat and the sun will not strike them.” In Isa 35:7, its only other occurrence in the OT, שָׁרָב (sharav) stands parallel to “parched ground” and in contrast to “pool.” In later Hebrew and Aramaic it refers to “dry heat, heat of the sun” (Jastrow 1627 s.v.). Here it likely has this nuance and forms a hendiadys with “sun.”
14 sn Those who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).
15 sn Good things refers not merely to material blessings, but blessings that come from knowing God.
16 sn Another fundamental contrast of Luke’s is between the hungry and the rich (Luke 6:20-26).
17 sn You who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).
18 sn The promise you will be satisfied is the first of several “reversals” noted in these promises. The beatitudes and the reversals that accompany them serve in the sermon as an invitation to enter into God’s care, because one can know God cares for those who turn to him.
19 sn You will laugh alludes to the joy that comes to God’s people in the salvation to come.
20 tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.
21 tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.
22 tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).