143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; 1
my soul thirsts for you in a parched 2 land. 3
A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. 5
63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! 6
My soul thirsts 7 for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched 8 land where there is no water.
1 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
2 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
3 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).
4 sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.
5 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.
6 tn Or “I will seek you.”
7 tn Or “I thirst.”
8 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.