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Psalm 17 · a question people ask

"I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form" (17:15). Awake from what?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say. The verb is quts (tap awake). Psalm 3 has it after sleep: "I laid myself down and slept. I awakened, for the LORD sustains me" (Psalm 3:5). Daniel has it of "those who sleep in the dust of the earth": "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake" (Daniel 12:2). Psalm 17 names neither sleep nor the dust beside awake, and these notes don't say which waking it means. What the verse does say is what the psalmist expects: "I shall see your face in righteousness" (Psalm 17:15). Psalm 11's notes set "The upright shall see his face" (Psalm 11:7) beside "You cannot see my face" (Exodus 33:20) and other verses; these notes don't repeat them.

The verses

“As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.”
Psalm 17:15 · World English Bible
“I laid myself down and slept. I awakened, for the LORD sustains me.”
Psalm 3:5 · World English Bible
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Daniel 12:2 · World English Bible
“For the LORD is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face.”
Psalm 11:7 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 17

Psalm 17: The apple of your eye

"Your sons have plenty" (17:14) and "I shall be satisfied … with seeing your form" (17:15) are the same Hebrew verb, sava. And the psalmist who says "I have kept myself" (17:4) asks, with the same verb, "Keep me as the apple of your eye" (17:8).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions