Psalms 63:1-2

Psalm 63 ¹ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ² 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ³ 

My soul thirsts ⁴  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ⁵  land where there is no water.

63:2 Yes, ⁶  in the sanctuary I have seen you, ⁷ 

and witnessed ⁸  your power and splendor.

Psalms 84:2

84:2 I desperately want to be ⁹ 

in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ¹⁰ 

My heart and my entire being ¹¹  shout for joy

to the living God.

Psalms 143:6-7

143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; ¹² 

my soul thirsts for you in a parched ¹³  land. ¹⁴ 

143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!

My strength is fading. ¹⁵ 

Do not reject me, ¹⁶ 

or I will join ¹⁷  those descending into the grave. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 26:8-9

26:8 Yes, as your judgments unfold, ¹⁹ 

O Lord, we wait for you.

We desire your fame and reputation to grow. ²⁰ 

26:9 I ²¹  look for ²²  you during the night,

my spirit within me seeks you at dawn,

for when your judgments come upon the earth,

those who live in the world learn about justice. ²³ 

[63:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ⁴ tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ⁵ 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.

[63:2]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).

[63:2]  ⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is understood here as referring to a past experience which the psalmist desires to be repeated. Another option is to take the perfect as indicating the psalmist’s certitude that he will again stand in God’s presence in the sanctuary. In this case one can translate, “I will see you.”

[63:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

[84:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[143:6]  ¹² tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.

[143:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.

[143:6]  ¹⁴ 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).

[143:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”

[143:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[143:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[143:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.

[26:8]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text has, “yes, the way of your judgments.” The translation assumes that “way” is related to the verb “we wait” as an adverbial accusative (“in the way of your judgments we wait”). מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ (mishpatekha, “your judgments”) could refer to the Lord’s commandments, in which case one might translate, “as we obey your commands.” However, in verse 9 the same form refers to divine acts of judgment on evildoers.

[26:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your name and your remembrance [is] the desire of [our?] being.”

[26:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “with my soul I.” This is a figure for the speaker himself (“I”).

[26:9]  ²² tn Or “long for, desire.” The speaker acknowledges that he is eager to see God come in judgment (see vv. 8, 9b).

[26:9]  ²³ tn The translation understands צֶדֶק (tsedeq) in the sense of “justice,” but it is possible that it carries the nuance “righteousness,” in which case one might translate, “those who live in the world learn to live in a righteous manner” (cf. NCV).