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To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Psalms 63:2 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.
  • BSB So I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory.
  • NKJV So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
  • NASB So have I seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and glory.
  • NLT I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

David recalls beholding God's power and glory in the sanctuary. Past worship sustains his longing in the wilderness.

Overview

Far from the place of worship, David remembers seeing God's power and glory in the sanctuary. The memory of communion with God fuels his present thirst for him. For believers, the remembered experience of God's presence likewise strengthens faith during seasons of spiritual dryness.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Ps 27:4One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
  • Ps 105:4Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
  • Ps 84:2–11My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
  • Ps 96:6Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
  • 1 Chr 16:11Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.
  • 2 Cor 4:4–6In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
  • Exod 33:18–19And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
  • 1 Sam 4:21–22And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.
  • Ps 145:11They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
  • Ps 68:24They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
  • Ps 134:2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD.
  • Ps 73:17–18Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
  • Ps 77:13–14Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?
  • Ps 78:61And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
  • Isa 60:13The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 63:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 63:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.