The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 62
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 63 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Edom.
Ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυὶδ, ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας.
O God, my God, I cry to thee early; My soul has thirsted for thee: How often has my flesh longed after thee, In a barren and trackless and dry land!
Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός μου πρὸς σὲ ὀρθρίζω, ἐδίψησέ σοι ἡ ψυχή μου, ποσαπλῶς σοι ἡ σάρξ μου, ἐν γῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἀβάτῳ καὶ ἀνύδρῳ,
"God, my God, unto You from the light I watch". What is to watch? It is, not to sleep. What is to sleep? There is a sleep of the soul; there is a sleep of the body. Sleep of body we all ought to have: because if sleep of body is not taken, a man faints, the body itself faints. For our frail body cannot long sustain a…
Thus have I appeared before thee in the sanctuary, That I might see thy power and thy glory.
οὕτως ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ὤφθην σοι, τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὴν δύναμίν σου καὶ τὴν δόξαν σου.
"My soul hath thirsted for Thee" (ver. 2). Behold that desert of Idumaea. See how here he thirsteth: but see what good thing is here, "Hath thirsted for Thee." For there are they that thirst, but not for God. For every one that willeth anything to be granted to him, is in the heat of longing; the longing itself is the…
For thy mercy is better than life: My lips shall praise thee.
Ὅτι κρεῖσσον τὸ ἔλεός σου ὑπὲρ ζωὰς, τὰ χείλη μου ἐπαινέσουσί σε.
"Thus in a holy thing I have appeared to You, that I might see Your power and Your glory"....Unless a man first thirst in that desert, that is in the evil wherein he is, he never arrives at the good, which is God. But "I have appeared to You," he says, "in a holy thing." Now in a holy thing is there great consolation.…
Thus will I bless thee during my life: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Οὕτως εὐλογήσω σε ἐν τῇ ζωῇ μου, ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου ἀρῶ τὰς χεῖράς μου.
Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness; And my joyful lips shall praise thy name.
Ὡσεὶ στέατος καὶ πιότητος ἐμπλησθείη ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ χείλη ἀγαλλιάσεως αἰνέσει τὸ ὄνομά σου.
"So I will speak good of You in my life, and in Your name I will lift up my hands". Now in my life which to me You have given, not in that which I have chosen after the world with the rest among many lives, but that which You have given to me through Your mercy, that I should praise You. "So I will speak good of You…
Forasmuch as I have remembered thee on my bed: In the early seasons I have meditated on thee.
Εἰ ἐμνημόνευόν σου ἐπὶ τῆς στρωμνῆς μου, ἐν τοῖς ὄρθροις ἐμελέτων εἰς σέ.
"If I have remembered You upon my bed, in the dawnings I did meditate on you." His "bed" he calls his rest. When any one is at rest, let him be mindful of God; when any one is at rest, let him not by rest be dissolved, and forget God: if mindful he is of God when he is at rest, in his actions on God he does meditate.…
For thou hast been my helper, And in the shelter of thy wings will I rejoice.
Ὅτι ἐγενήθης βοηθός μου, καὶ ἐν τῇ σκέπῃ τῶν πτερύγων σου ἀγαλλιάσομαι.
"Because Thou has become my helper." For unless God aid our good works, they cannot be accomplished by us. And worthy things we ought to work: that is, as though in the light, since by Christ showing the way we work. Whosoever worketh evil things, in the night he worketh, not in the dawn; according to the Apostle,…
My soul has kept very close behind thee: Thy right hand has upheld me.
Ἐκολλήθη ἡ ψυχή μου ὀπίσω σου, ἐμοῦ ἀντελάβετο ἡ δεξιά σου.
But they vainly sought after my soul; They shall go into the lowest parts of the earth.
Αὐτοὶ δὲ εἰς μάτην ἐζήτησαν τὴν ψυχήν μου, εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὰ κατώτατα τῆς γῆς,
"But themselves in vain have sought my soul. They shall go unto the lower places of the earth." Earth they were unwilling to lose, when they crucified Christ: into the lower places of the earth they have gone. What are the lower places of the earth? Earthly lusts. Better it is to walk upon earth, than by lust to go…
They shall be delivered up to the power of the sword; They shall be portions for foxes.
παραδοθήσονται εἰς χεῖρας ῥομφαίας, μερίδες ἀλωπέκων ἔσονται.
"They shall be delivered unto the hands of the sword". In truth, thus it has visibly befallen them, they have been taken by storm by enemies breaking in. "Portions of foxes they shall be." Foxes he calls the kings of the world, that then were when Judæa was conquered. Hear in order that you may know and perceive, that…
But the king shall rejoice in God; Everyone that swears by him shall be praised; For the mouth of them that speak unjust things has been stopped.
Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς εὐφρανθήσεται ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ, ἐπαινεθήσεται πᾶς ὁ ὀμνύων ἐν αὐτῷ, ὅτι ἐνεφράγη στόμα λαλούντων ἄδικα.
Every note is a real passage, quoted word for word from a published English translation, with its source. Nothing here is summarised or written by us. Some verses have many notes and some have none, because the Fathers wrote more on some passages than others.
All of these translations are in the public domain. The passages were matched to their verses by the Historical Christian Commentaries project, which also hosts the full texts we link to. The Fathers are a treasury of the Church's mind, and they are best read alongside the life of the Church: if a passage raises a question, bring it to your priest.