Mazmur 63:5-9

63:5 As if with choice meat ¹  you satisfy my soul. ² 

My mouth joyfully praises you, ³ 

63:6 whenever ⁴  I remember you on my bed,

and think about you during the nighttime hours.

63:7 For you are my deliverer; ⁵ 

under your wings ⁶  I rejoice.

63:8 My soul ⁷  pursues you; ⁸ 

your right hand upholds me.

63:9 Enemies seek to destroy my life, ⁹ 

but they will descend into the depths of the earth. ¹⁰ 

[63:5]  ¹ tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”

[63:5]  ² tn Or “me.”

[63:5]  ³ tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”

[63:6]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term אִם (’im) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.

[63:7]  ⁵ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[63:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”

[63:8]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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).

[63:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “but they for destruction seek my life.” The pronoun “they” must refer here to the psalmist’s enemies, referred to at this point for the first time in the psalm.

[63:9]  ¹⁰ sn The depths of the earth refers here to the underworld dwelling place of the dead (see Ezek 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24). See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 167.