Psalms 63:1-7

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

1 ^[a]You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.

7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

Psalms 63:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 63

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David, either when he was persecuted by Saul, and obliged to hide himself in desert places, as in the forest of Hareth, the wildernesses of Ziph, Maon, and Engedi, \1Sa 22:5 23:14,24,25 24:1\; all which were in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55,62; or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, which obliged him to flee from Jerusalem, and go the way of the wilderness, where Ziba and Barzillai sent him food, lest his young men that were with him should faint there, \2Sa 15:23 16:2 17:29\. The Septuagint version, and those that follow that, call it the wilderness of Idumea, or Edom, as the Arabic version; and so the Chaldee paraphrase, ``in the wilderness which was on the border of the tribe of Judah;'' as Edom was, Jos 15:21; so the Messiah, David's son, was in a wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil, and where he was hungry and thirsty in a literal sense, as David was here in a spiritual sense, as the psalm shows, Mt 4:1,2; and the church of God, whom David sometimes represents, is said to be in a wilderness, where she is fed for a time, and times, and half a time, even during the whole reign of the antichristian beast, Re 12:14; and, indeed, all the saints are, at one time or another, in a desert condition, and while they are here are in the wilderness of the people, Ho 2:14, Eze 20:35.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 42:2; Psalms 84:2
• 2. Psalms 143:6
• 3. S Psalms 15:1; Psalms 27:4; Psalms 68:24
• 4. S Exodus 16:7
• 5. Psalms 36:7; Psalms 69:16; Psalms 106:45; Psalms 109:21
• 6. Psalms 104:33; Psalms 146:2; Isaiah 38:20
• 7. S Psalms 28:2; 1 Timothy 2:8
• 8. S Psalms 36:8; Matthew 5:6
• 9. Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalms 16:7; Psalms 119:148; Matthew 14:25; Psalms 42:8
• 10. Psalms 27:9; Psalms 118:7
• 11. S Ruth 2:12

Footnotes

• [a]. In Hebrew texts 63:1-11 is numbered 63:2-12.