Mazmur 21:1

Psalm 21 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give; ² 

he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide. ³ 

Mazmur 21:7

21:7 For the king trusts ⁴  in the Lord,

and because of the sovereign Lord’s ⁵  faithfulness he is not upended. ⁶ 

Mazmur 63:1-8

Psalm 63 ⁷ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ⁸ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ⁹ 

My soul thirsts ¹⁰  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ¹¹  land where there is no water.

63:2 Yes, ¹²  in the sanctuary I have seen you, ¹³ 

and witnessed ¹⁴  your power and splendor.

63:3 Because ¹⁵  experiencing ¹⁶  your loyal love is better than life itself,

my lips will praise you.

63:4 For this reason ¹⁷  I will praise you while I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands. ¹⁸ 

63:5 As if with choice meat ¹⁹  you satisfy my soul. ²⁰ 

My mouth joyfully praises you, ²¹ 

63:6 whenever ²²  I remember you on my bed,

and think about you during the nighttime hours.

63:7 For you are my deliverer; ²³ 

under your wings ²⁴  I rejoice.

63:8 My soul ²⁵  pursues you; ²⁶ 

your right hand upholds me.

Mazmur 63:11

63:11 But the king ²⁷  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ²⁸  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ²⁹ 

[21:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 21. The psalmist praises the Lord for the way he protects and blesses the Davidic king.

[21:1]  ² tn Heb “in your strength.” The translation interprets the pronominal suffix as subjective, rather than merely descriptive (or attributive).

[21:1]  ³ tn Heb “and in your deliverance, how greatly he rejoices.”

[21:7]  ⁴ tn The active participle draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action.

[21:7]  ⁵ tn Traditionally “the Most High’s.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. Note the focus of vv. 8-12 and see Ps 47:2.

[21:7]  ⁶ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “he will not be upended” (cf. NRSV “he shall not be moved”). Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense.

[63:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.

[63:1]  ⁸ 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.

[63:1]  ⁹ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ¹¹ 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.

[63:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).

[63:2]  ¹³ tn The perfect verbal form is understood here as referring to a past experience which the psalmist desires to be repeated. Another option is to take the perfect as indicating the psalmist’s certitude that he will again stand in God’s presence in the sanctuary. In this case one can translate, “I will see you.”

[63:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

[63:3]  ¹⁵ 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).

[63:3]  ¹⁶ 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.

[63:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps “then.”

[63:4]  ¹⁸ 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).

[63:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”

[63:5]  ²⁰ tn Or “me.”

[63:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”

[63:6]  ²² tn The Hebrew term אִם (’im) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.

[63:7]  ²³ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[63:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”

[63:8]  ²⁵ 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).

[63:8]  ²⁶ 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).

[63:11]  ²⁷ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

[63:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

[63:11]  ²⁹ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.