Psalms 63:4
in Psalms 63So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift my hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
KJV
Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
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This verse in Psalms 63
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Thus--literally, "Truly." will I bless--praise Thee (Ps 34:1). lift up my hands--in worship (compare Ps 28:2). in thy name--in praise of Thy perfections.
This site's exposition
loving devotion is better than life
on Psalms 63:3-5
Loving devotion is better than life, so the lips answer with praise. Gill reads the lifted hands of verse 4 as the ordinary gesture of prayer, carried out of the temple into the wilderness. Verse 5 sets a full table in a place with no food.
This site's exposition
I will lift my hands
Adam Clarke notes that Jews in every land lifted their hands toward Jerusalem, where God had His temple. David, far away, lifts his hands in that name.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
His constant regard to God upon all occasions, which should accompany his praises of him: I will lift up my hands in thy name. We must have an eye to God's name (to all that by which he has made himself known) in all our prayers and praises, which we are taught to begin with,-- Hallowed be thy name, and to conclude with,-- Thine is the glory.
Thus will I bless thee while I live,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Thus will I bless thee while I live. As I now bless thee so will I ever do; or rather, so as thou shalt reveal thy lovingkindness to me, I will in return continue to extol thee. While we live we will love. If we see no cause to rejoice in our estate, we shall always have reason for rejoicing in the Lord. If none others bless God, yet his people will; his very nature, as being the infinitely good God, is a sufficient argument for our praising him as long as we exist. I will lift up my hands in thy name. For worship the hands were uplifted, as also in joy, in thanksgiving, in labour, in confidence; in all these senses we would lift up our hands in Jehovah's name alone. No hands need hang down when God draws near in love. The name of Jesus has often made lame men leap as a hart, and it has made sad men clap their hands for joy.
Thus will I bless thee while I live. As I now bless thee so will I ever do; or rather, so as thou shalt reveal thy lovingkindness to me, I will in return continue to extol thee. While we live we will love. If we see no cause to rejoice in our estate, we shall always have reason for rejoicing in the Lord. If none others bless God, yet his people will; his very nature, as being the infinitely good God, is a sufficient argument for our praising him as long as we exist.
I will lift up my hands in thy name - I will take God for my portion. I will dedicate myself to him, and will take him to witness that I am upright in what I profess and do. Pious Jews, in every place of their dispersion, in all their prayers, praises, contracts, etc., stretched out their hands towards Jerusalem, where the true God had his temple, and where he manifested his presence.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thus will I bless thee while I live - In my life; or, as long as life lasts, will I praise thee. The word “thus” refers to the sentiment in the previous verse, meaning that as the result of his deep sense of the value of the loving kindness of God, he would praise him through all the remainder of his life, or would never cease to praise him. A true purpose of serving God embraces the whole of this life, and the whole of eternity. He who loves God, and who has any proper sense of his mercy, does not anticipate a time when he will cease to praise and bless him, or when he will have any desire or wish not to be engaged in his service. I will lift up my hands in thy name - In solemn prayer and praise. See the notes at Psa 28:2.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
As I saw You in the Sanctuary, etc. Heb. כן, like כאשר, as. I thirst to see Your strength and Your glory as I saw You in the Sanctuary, the Tabernacle of Shiloh. My soul will be sated with the visions of Your strength and Your glory.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֵּ֣ן | ken | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אֲבָרֶכְךָ֣ | ʾavarekha | I will bless you | H1288 → | 330 times |
| בְחַיָּ֑י | vechaiyai | in life my | H2416 → | 498 times |
| בְּ֝שִׁמְךָ | beshimkha | in name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
| אֶשָּׂ֥א | ʾesa' | I will lift up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| כַפָּֽי׃ | khapai | hands my | H3709 → | 192 times |
כֵּ֣ןthus
kenH3651 →771 times
אֲבָרֶכְךָ֣I will bless you
ʾavarekhaH1288 →330 times
בְחַיָּ֑יin life my
vechaiyaiH2416 →498 times
בְּ֝שִׁמְךָin name your
beshimkhaH8034 →864 times
אֶשָּׂ֥אI will lift up
ʾesa'H5375 →656 times
כַפָּֽי׃hands my
khapaiH3709 →192 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 134:2Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD!
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 2:8
Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 141:2
May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 28:2
Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
- Lamentations 3:41
Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
- 1 Timothy 2:8
Through
Psalms 104:33I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
it leads to
- Psalms 146:2
I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
- Psalms 145:1–2
I will exalt You, my God and King; I will bless Your name forever and ever.
- Psalms 146:2
Through
Psalms 28:2Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
it leads to
- Psalms 138:2
I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else.
- Psalms 140:6
I say to the LORD, “You are my God.” Hear, O LORD, my cry for help.
- Psalms 138:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.