Psalms 119:40

119:40 Look, I long for your precepts.

Revive me with your deliverance! ¹ 

Psalms 119:131

119:131 I open my mouth and pant,

because I long ²  for your commands.

Psalms 119:174

119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;

I find delight in your law.

Psalms 42:1

Book 2
(Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42 ³ 

For the music director; a well-written song ⁴  by the Korahites.

42:1 As a deer ⁵  longs ⁶  for streams of water,

so I long ⁷  for you, O God!

Psalms 63:1

Psalm 63 ⁸ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ⁹ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ¹⁰ 

My soul thirsts ¹¹  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ¹²  land where there is no water.

Psalms 84:2

84:2 I desperately want to be ¹³ 

in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ¹⁴ 

My heart and my entire being ¹⁵  shout for joy

to the living God.

Proverbs 13:12

13:12 Hope ¹⁶  deferred ¹⁷  makes the heart sick, ¹⁸ 

but a longing fulfilled ¹⁹  is like ²⁰  a tree of life.

The Song of Songs 5:8

The Triumph of Love: The Beloved Praises Her Lover

The Beloved to the Maidens:

5:8 O maidens of Jerusalem, I command you –

If you find my beloved, what will you tell him?

Tell him that I am lovesick! ²¹ 

Revelation 3:15-16

3:15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ²²  I wish you were either cold or hot! 3:16 So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going ²³  to vomit ²⁴  you out of my mouth!

[119:40]  ¹ tn Or “righteousness.”

[119:131]  ² tn The verb occurs only here in the OT.

[42:1]  ³ sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.

[42:1]  ⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[42:1]  ⁵ tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.

[42:1]  ⁶ tn Or “pants [with thirst].”

[42:1]  ⁷ tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[63:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.

[63:1]  ⁹ 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.

[63:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ¹² 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.

[84:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[13:12]  ¹⁶ sn The word “hope” (תּוֹחֶלֶת [tokhelet] from יָחַל [yakhal]) also has the implication of a tense if not anxious wait.

[13:12]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is the Pual participle from מָשַׁךְ (mashakh,“to draw; to drag”).

[13:12]  ¹⁸ sn Failure in realizing one’s hopes can be depressing or discouraging. People can bear frustration only so long (W. G. Plaut, Proverbs, 153).

[13:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a desire that comes”; cf. CEV “a wish that comes true.”

[13:12]  ²⁰ tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[5:8]  ²¹ tn The genitive construct חוֹלַת אַהֲבָה (kholat ’ahavah, “sick of love”) denotes “lovesick.” This is an example of a genitive of cause, that is, the Beloved was (physically/emotionally) sick because of her unrequited love for him. See study note on Song 2:5.

[3:15]  ²² sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.

[3:16]  ²³ tn Or “I intend.”

[3:16]  ²⁴ tn This is the literal meaning of the Greek verb ἐμέω (emew). It is usually translated with a much weaker term like “spit out” due to the unpleasant connotations of the English verb “vomit,” as noted by L&N 23.44. The situation confronting the Laodicean church is a dire one, however, and such a term is necessary if the modern reader is to understand the gravity of the situation.