Mazmur 63:3-6

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.

[63:3]  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).

[63:3]  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.

[63:4]  ³ tn Or perhaps “then.”

[63:4]  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).

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

[63:5]  ⁶ tn Or “me.”

[63:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”

[63:6]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term אִם (’im) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.