Bible Strands
Psalms 63:1
A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David, in the Wilderness of Judah, addressing God directly. The superscript places him in a place of scarcity, which the verse itself confirms.
The words — 'asha.Cha.Re. (H7836) carries the sense of diligent, earnest pursuit, not casual looking. tza.me.'Ah (H6770) is the physiological state of thirst, applied here to the soul.
The thread — The same thirst-and-longing language appears in Psalms 42:1 (soul longing after God as a deer after water), 84:2 (soul fainting for the courts of the LORD), and 143:6 (soul thirsting like a parched land).
Why it lands — The verse equates the desire for God with a body's need for water in a dry land, making the pursuit of God a matter of survival rather than preference. It asks the reader to name their own thirst.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
Cross-references
- Psalms 143:6 I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah
- Psalms 84:2 My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- Psalms 42:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.
- Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
- Psalms 91:2 I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
- Revelation 7:16 ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’
- Isaiah 41:18 I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.
- Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
- Psalms 5:3 In the morning, O LORD, You hear my voice; at daybreak I lay my plea before You and wait in expectation.
- John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.