Psalm 63

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A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah

1-2       O God, you are my God. I earnestly seek You. My soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. ² So I have envisioned You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory.

חזה (chazah) = “envision, perceive, behold”

שחר (shachar) = “dawn / black / seek”

 3-8       For Your lovingkindness is better than life. My lips will praise You. ⁴ Thus I will bless You while I live, in Your name I lift up my palms. ⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my lips will sing praises to You with a joyful mouth. ⁶ I recall You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night. ⁷ For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy. ⁸ My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

שבח (shavach) = “praise / to calm, restrain”

9-11      But those who seek to destroy my soul – may they go down into the depths of the earth. ¹⁰ May they be given over to the power of the sword. May they be a portion for jackals. ¹¹ But the king shall rejoice in God, all who swear by Him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

שואה (sho-ah) = “destruction”

REFERENCES:

Superscription

Hebrews 13:13-14  Therefore let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Verse 1

Exodus 18:21  “Moreover, look for (חזה, chazah) able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.”

Exodus 24:11  And He did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. They beheld (חזה, chazah) God, and ate and drank.

Psalm 42:1-2  As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

“ ‘Shachar’ (שחר) is the search for an object which is not spatially distant from us but which we cannot see because it is still dark.” (R’ Samson R. Hirsch)

Verse 2

Exodus 29:26-27  “You shall take the breast (חזה, chazeh) of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it for a wave offering before Adonai, and it shall be your portion. And you shall consecrate the breast (חזה, chazeh) of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the priests’ portion that is contributed from the ram of ordination, from what was Aaron’s and his sons’.

Leviticus 7:30-31  His own hands shall bring Adonai’s food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast(חזה, chazeh), that the breast (חזה, chazeh) may be waved as a wave offering before Adonai. The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast (חזה, chazeh) shall be for Aaron and his sons.

Verse 3

Psalm 89:10  You control the raging of the sea; when its waves rear up, You calm (שבח, shavach) them.

Proverbs 29:11  A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back (שבח, shavach).

Psalm 65:1 To You silence is praise, O God…

Verse 9

Proverbs 3:25  Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin (שואה, shoah) of the wicked, when it comes.