Mazmur 36:8-9

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

36:9 For you are the one who gives

and sustains life. ¹ 

Mazmur 42:2

42:2 I thirst ²  for God,

for the living God.

I say, ³  “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” ⁴ 

Mazmur 63:1

Psalm 63 ⁵ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ⁶ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ⁷ 

My soul thirsts ⁸  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ⁹  land where there is no water.

Mazmur 143:6

143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; ¹⁰ 

my soul thirsts for you in a parched ¹¹  land. ¹² 

[36:9]  ¹ tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.

[42:2]  ² tn Or “my soul thirsts.”

[42:2]  ³ tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[42:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).

[63:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ⁸ tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ⁹ 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.

[143:6]  ¹⁰ tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.

[143:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.

[143:6]  ¹² tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).