Psalm 63:1–3

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

My soul thirsts2 for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched3 land where there is no water.

63:2 Yes,4 in the sanctuary I have seen you,5

and witnessed6 your power and splendor.

63:3 Because7 experiencing8 your loyal love is better than life itself,

my lips will praise you.

1	tn Or “I will seek you.”
2	tn Or “I thirst.”
3	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.
4	tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).
5	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.”
6	tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.
7	tn This line is understood as giving the basis for the praise promised in the following line. Another option is to take the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) as asseverative/emphasizing, “Indeed, your loyal love is better” (cf. NEB, which leaves the particle untranslated).
8	tn The word “experiencing” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist does not speak here of divine loyal love in some abstract sense, but of loyal love revealed and experienced.