Psalms 24:3-4

24:3 Who is allowed to ascend ¹  the mountain of the Lord? ² 

Who may go up to his holy dwelling place?

24:4 The one whose deeds are blameless

and whose motives are pure, ³ 

who does not lie, ⁴ 

or make promises with no intention of keeping them. ⁵ 

Psalms 24:7

24:7 Look up, ⁶  you gates!

Rise up, ⁷  you eternal doors!

Then the majestic king ⁸  will enter! ⁹ 

Psalms 24:9

24:9 Look up, you gates!

Rise up, you eternal doors!

Then the majestic king will enter!

[24:3]  ¹ tn The imperfects in v. 3 are modal, expressing potential or permission.

[24:3]  ² sn In this context the Lord’s mountain probably refers to Zion/Jerusalem (see Isa 2:2-3).

[24:4]  ³ tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.

[24:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew mss support the ancient versions in reading a third person pronoun “his.” The idiom “lift the life” here means to “long for” or “desire strongly.” In this context (note the reference to an oath in the following line) “emptiness” probably refers to speech (see Ps 12:2).

[24:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”

[24:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “lift up your heads.” The gates of the Lord’s dwelling place are here personified. The idiom “lift up the head” often means “be confident, bold” (see Judg 8:28; Job 10:15; Ps 83:2; Zech 1:21).

[24:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “lift yourselves up.”

[24:7]  ⁸ tn Or “king of glory.”

[24:7]  ⁹ tn Following the imperatives of the preceding lines, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.