Psalms 84:10

84:10 Certainly ¹  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ² 

I would rather stand at the entrance ³  to the temple of my God

than live ⁴  in the tents of the wicked.

Psalms 88:1

Psalm 88 ⁵ 

A song, a psalm written by the Korahites; for the music director; according to the machalath-leannoth style; ⁶  a well-written song ⁷  by Heman the Ezrachite.

88:1 O Lord God who delivers me! ⁸ 

By day I cry out

and at night I pray before you. ⁹ 

Psalms 137:7

137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell. ¹⁰ 

They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ¹¹ 

right to its very foundation!”

¹ tn Or “for.”

² tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

³ tn Heb “I choose being at the entrance of the house of my God over living in the tents of the wicked.” The verb סָפַף (safaf) appears only here in the OT; it is derived from the noun סַף (saf, “threshold”). Traditionally some have interpreted this as a reference to being a doorkeeper at the temple, though some understand it to mean “lie as a beggar at the entrance to the temple” (see HALOT 765 s.v. ספף).

⁴ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

⁵ sn Psalm 88. The psalmist cries out in pain to the Lord, begging him for relief from his intense and constant suffering. The psalmist regards God as the ultimate cause of his distress, but nevertheless clings to God in hope.

⁶ tn The Hebrew phrase מָחֲלַת לְעַנּוֹת (makhalat lÿ’annot) may mean “illness to afflict.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term מָחֲלַת also appears in the superscription of Ps 53.

⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

⁸ tn Heb “O Lord God of my deliverance.” In light of the content of the psalm, this reference to God as the one who delivers seems overly positive. For this reason some emend the text to אַלֹהַי שִׁוַּעְתִּי (’alohay shivva’tiy, “[O Lord] my God, I cry out”). See v. 13.

⁹ tn Heb “[by] day I cry out, in the night before you.”

⁹ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”