Read the passage

Psalm 63:6-7

World English Bible

when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches. For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.

What surrounds this passage

Psalm 63 is written from a dry and difficult place. The night watches are simply when the speaker is awake, and the psalm gives him something to turn over during them.

The verses on either side

Psalm 63:3-10, World English Bible

Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches.
For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food.

A question to sit with

What could you turn over in the hours you are awake?

Why this one, and not these

3 passages were considered for this and turned down, each for a reason written at the time.

Psalm 4:8: It promises lying down and sleeping in peace. Read by somebody who has been awake for hours, that is a promise that has visibly not come true, which makes the whole product harder to trust.
Psalm 127:2: "He gives sleep to his loved ones" is the verse most often offered here. Read at three in the morning by somebody who is not sleeping, it can imply that they are not loved.
Matthew 11:28-30: The reviewed anxiety passage; its rest is not about sleep.

Written about this passage

Bible Verses for Nightmares: For the Moment You Wake, and the Prayers Kept for the Dark
Woken by a bad dream? Psalm 63:6-8 to read in the dark, the night prayers churches and synagogues keep, Psalm 91 and Job 7, and when to see a doctor.
Bible Verses for Sleepless Nights: For the Hours You Are Awake
The two verses everyone offers promise sleep, which is hard to read at three in the morning. One that assumes the night watches instead, with its context.
Bible Verses to Read Before Bed: An Evening Order for the Last Ten Minutes, Simeon's Song, and a Blessing for the House
Ten minutes before sleep: set the day down, read Psalm 63:6-7, close with Simeon's words, and bless the house.
Psalms for Anxiety: Psalms 56, 63 and 143 Read Whole, and How People Have Prayed Them
Three whole psalms to read aloud when anxious: Psalm 56 for fear, Psalm 63 for the hours awake, Psalm 143 for being worn down.
Psalms for Sleep: Psalm 63 to End the Day, the Psalms of Night Prayer, and Listening in Bed
A psalm to end the day with: Psalm 63:6-7 said from memory, the psalms churches and synagogues pray at night, listening in bed, and a psalm to say with a child.

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