63:3 Because 1 experiencing 2 your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
63:4 For this reason 3 I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands. 4
63:5 As if with choice meat 5 you satisfy my soul. 6
My mouth joyfully praises you, 7
63:6 whenever 8 I remember you on my bed,
and think about you during the nighttime hours.
63:7 For you are my deliverer; 9
under your wings 10 I rejoice.
63:8 My soul 11 pursues you; 12
your right hand upholds me.
1 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).
2 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.
3 tn Or perhaps “then.”
4 sn I will lift up my hands. Lifting up one’s hands toward God was a gesture of prayer (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19) or respect (Ps 119:48).
5 tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”
6 tn Or “me.”
7 tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”
8 tn The Hebrew term אִם (’im) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.
9 tn Or “[source of] help.”
10 tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”
11 tn Or “I.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
12 tn Heb “clings after.” The expression means “to pursue with determination” (see Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2; Jer 42:16).