Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 63 (MT) / Psalm 62 (LXX) is a Davidic wilderness-psalm — per its superscription — 'when he was in the wilderness of Judah' (likely during Absalom's revolt, 2 Sam 15–17). The psalm's opening 'O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you' makes it one of the Psalter's most personally-intimate God-seeking texts. The psalm became the ancient church's dawn-psalm (Lauds) — recited at daybreak because of v. 1's 'earnestly' (shachar, which contains the Hebrew root for 'dawn').
Notable Variants
63:1 'earnestly I seek' (LXX: orthrizō, 'I rise at dawn') as dawn-prayer vocabulary that made this the traditional morning-psalm; 63:3 'your steadfast love is better than life'; the wilderness-thirst-for-God imagery.
Structural Notes
MT Ps 63 = LXX Ps 62. 12 verses (MT/LXX), 11 verses (English).
A psalm by David, composed during his time in the Judean wilderness.
Superscription 'a Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah' tracks MT. Likely-context: 2 Sam 15–17's Absalom-revolt wilderness-flight.
God — you are my God; at dawn I search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh yearns for you in a dry and exhausted land where there is no water.
Masoretic (WLC)
אֱלֹהִים אֵלִי אַתָּה אֲשַׁחֲרֶךָּ צָמְאָה לְךָ נַפְשִׁי כָּמַהּ לְךָ בְשָׂרִי בְּאֶרֶץ־צִיָּה וְעָיֵף בְּלִי־מָיִם
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water
Septuagint (LXX)
ὁ θεὸς ὁ θεός μου πρὸς σὲ ὀρθρίζω ἐδίψησέν σοι ἡ ψυχή μου ποσαπλῶς σοι ἡ σάρξ μου ἐν γῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἀβάτῳ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ
O God, my God, for you I rise early at dawn; my soul thirsts for you, how many times my flesh, in a wilderness, trackless and waterless land
'I RISE EARLY AT DAWN' (orthrizō pros se). The LXX renders the Hebrew ashachar'kha ('I seek you earnestly/eagerly') with orthrizō ('to rise at dawn'), exploiting the Hebrew root's connection to shachar ('dawn'). This LXX rendering became the basis for the psalm's Christian liturgical-assignment to LAUDS (dawn-prayer). Every morning-office of the Liturgy of the Hours deploys this psalm.
Chrysostom writes of this psalm: 'the Fathers of the Church decreed that this psalm should be recited daily, as a kind of spiritual song … the one who has not recited it must be said to have not seen the light' (Commentary on Ps 63).
'SOUL-THIRST' imagery paralleled at Psalm 42's 'as the deer pants for streams of water.' The paired soul-and-flesh thirst-theology makes the longing-for-God embodied, not merely spiritual.
So I have gazed on you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and your glory.
'So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory' tracks MT. Past-sanctuary-vision as current-wilderness-sustenance.
Because your faithful love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
'Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you' tracks MT. 'CHESED BETTER THAN LIFE' — the superlative-valuation. 2 Cor 4:17–18 ('our light momentary affliction … an eternal weight of glory') extends the eschatological-transvaluation theology.
So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.
'So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands' tracks MT. Name-hand-lifting-prayer posture.
My soul will be satisfied as with rich food and fat; my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.
'My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food' tracks MT. Feast-satisfaction metaphor — the 'fat and rich food' (stear kai piotēs) as sacrificial-meal imagery now spiritualized.
When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you through the night watches.
'When I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night' tracks MT. NIGHT-VIGIL MEDITATION — one of the Psalter's strongest texts on nighttime-contemplation. The monastic-Vigils office draws on this.
For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
'For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy' tracks MT.
My soul clings to you; your right hand holds me up.
'My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me' tracks MT. 'CLINGS' (davqah / ekollēthē) — the covenant-cleaving vocabulary of Deut 10:20, the root of Christian devotion (as in Matt 19:5's man-cleaving-to-wife, proskollēthēsetai).
But those who seek my life to destroy it will go down into the depths of the earth.
'But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth' tracks MT.
They will be poured out by the power of the sword; they will become food for jackals.
'They shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals' tracks MT.
But the king will rejoice in God; everyone who swears by him will celebrate, for the mouth of liars will be shut.
'But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped' tracks MT. King-rejoicing-closure — royal-petition returns to royal-triumph. 'All who swear BY HIM' — oath-piety as covenant-belonging.