Psalms 63:3

3 For thy mercy is better than lives (For thy love is better than living/is better than life itself); my lips shall praise thee.

Psalms 63:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 63:3

Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life
For life without the love of God is nothing else than death: a man that has no share in the love of God is dead while he lives; all the enjoyments of life, health, riches, honour, friends are nothing without the love of God; the meanest temporal blessings with it are preferable to the greatest without it, ( Proverbs 15:17 ) ; it lasts longer than life, and therefore must be better than that; death cannot separate from it; it continues to all eternity. And that the saints prefer it to this natural life appears by their readiness to lay it down for the sake of Christ and his Gospel, in which the lovingkindness of God is so richly manifested unto them; to which may be added, that it is the love of God which gives to his people spiritual life, and which issues in eternal life, and therefore must be better than a temporal one. The Targum is,

``for better is thy kindness, which thou wilt do for the righteous in the world to come, than the life which thou givest the wicked in this world;''

my lips shall praise thee;
that is, for thy lovingkindness, and because it is better than life, and any enjoyment of it.

Psalms 63:3 In-Context

1 The psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, my God, I wake to thee full early. My soul thirsted to thee; my flesh thirsted to thee full manyfold. In a land forsaken without way, and without water, (The song of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. God, my God, I wake up early, and I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh greatly thirsteth for thee. Here in a desert/ed land, without a way, and without water.)

2 so I appeared to thee in holy; that I should see thy virtue, and thy glory. (So I came to thee in the holy place; so that I could see thy strength, and thy glory.)

3 For thy mercy is better than lives (For thy love is better than living/is better than life itself); my lips shall praise thee.

4 So I shall bless thee in my life; and in thy name I shall raise mine hands. (So I shall bless thee all my life; and in thy name I shall raise up my hands.)

5 My soul be [ful]filled as with inner fatness and uttermore fatness; and my mouth shall praise with lips of full out joying (and my mouth shall praise thee with lips of rejoicing).