Psalm
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Psalm 84

Longing for the Temple Worship.

To the Chief Musician; set to a [a]Philistine lute. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

1How lovely are Your dwelling places,
O Lord of hosts!
2 
My soul (my life, my inner self) longs for and greatly desires the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 
The bird has found a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
My King and my God.
4 
Blessed and greatly favored are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence;
They will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah.

5 
Blessed and greatly favored is the man whose strength is in You,
In [b]whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6 
Passing through the Valley of Weeping ([c]Baca), they make it a place of springs;
The early rain also covers it with blessings.
7 
They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power];
Each of them appears before God in Zion.

8 
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Listen, O God of Jacob! Selah.
9 
See our shield, O God,
And look at the face of Your anointed [the king as Your representative].
10 
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else];
I would rather stand [as a doorkeeper] at the threshold of the house of my God
Than to live [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.
11 
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
The Lord bestows grace and favor and honor;
No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 
O Lord of hosts,
How blessed and greatly favored is the man who trusts in You [believing in You, relying on You, and committing himself to You with confident hope and expectation].

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 84:1 A technical musical term, meaning uncertain.
  2. Psalm 84:5 Lit their.
  3. Psalm 84:6 Possibly a kind of plant.
Psalm 84