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63 ‎[1] **A psalm by David, when he was in the Judean Desert. **This psalm depicts David’s plight in the Judean Desert as he was fleeing from Saul, surrounded by enemies on all sides and suffering from constant deprivation. It is essentially a psalm of yearning for intimacy with God. The physical hardships of the desert intensify rather than diminish his desire for spirituality.
‎[2] **God, You are my Almighty; I search for You. My soul thirsts for You; my flesh yearns for You, in a parched and thirsty land without water. **The psalmist’s spiritual thirst for God is expressed against the backdrop of an arid desert in which man’s physical needs are immediate and urgent. And yet, the psalmist’s most intense thirst is not for water but for intimacy with God. It is precisely when his physical deprivation and isolation are most extreme that David realizes that his foremost longing in life is for spirituality.
‎[3] **Indeed, in holiness I have seen You; **I imagine myself being enveloped in holiness, in a situation in which I am** beholding Your power and Your glory. **This is my dream and my desire.
‎[4] **For Your kindness is better than life. **The realization that God’s kindness is the source of all the goodness of the world means more to me than life itself. The mere recollection of Your kindness causes **my lips **to **praise You. **
‎[5] **So I will bless You as long as I live. **My very life, the fact that I am alive, can be regarded as a means of blessing You.** I will lift up my hands **to pray **in Your name. **
‎[6] **I am sated as with fat and rich fare. **My thoughts about You and the praises that I sing to You suffice to make me happy and fulfilled, providing gratification in the way that abundant good food satisfies a person. **My mouth offers praises with joyful lips, **not because of God’s beneficence to me, but because I am filled with joy at sensing His presence.** **
‎[7] **Even on my bed, **when it is time to relax and fall asleep,** I remember You.** **I meditate on You during the night watches. **A portion of the night, consisting of several hours, is called a “watch.” People are sometimes roused from their sleep between one watch and the next, but they are not fully awake and immediately fall back asleep. I, however, says the psalmist, use these opportunities to meditate further upon You, which clearly indicates that You are central to all my thoughts. There is nothing more meaningful to me than awareness of God’s presence; it occupies my heart and mind more than anything else.
‎[8] **For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. **The psalmist here is thankful to God not only because He has kept him alive and relatively free, avoiding capture by Saul, but, more importantly, because of the feeling that he knows that God is always with him, providing him with protection.** **
‎[9] **My soul clings to You; **it desires Your closeness, for **Your right hand has supported me. **
‎[10] After describing his physical and spiritual state, the psalmist addresses the matter of his pursuers:* ***But they **who pursue me** seek my annihilation. May they** **descend into the depths of the earth. **
‎[11] My enemies say** **that **they will shed his, **David’s,** blood by the sword. May they become prey to the foxes **who prowl in the desert looking for dead animals and corpses.** **
‎[12] **And may the king rejoice in God. **It is unclear whether the “king” refers to David himself, who had already been anointed by Samuel, or to Saul, whom David saw as still the legitimate king. David did not regard Saul as an enemy but rather as a man hounded by phantom terrors, driven to madness by his jealousy of David. David’s hope was that if Saul could find happiness in God, he would no longer have cause to hate and pursue him. **And **may **everyone who swears by him, **one of the basic indicators of one’s allegiance to the monarch,** be glorified, when** **the mouths of liars, **who have goaded Saul into jealousy of David,** are stopped. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center