Psalms 84:1--85:13

Psalm 84

For the music director; according to the gittith style; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

84:1 How lovely is the place where you live,

O Lord who rules over all!

84:2 I desperately want to be

in the courts of the Lord’s temple.

My heart and my entire being shout for joy

to the living God.

84:3 Even the birds find a home there,

and the swallow builds a nest,

where she can protect her young

near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,

my king and my God.

84:4 How blessed are those who live in your temple

and praise you continually! (Selah)

84:5 How blessed are those who find their strength in you,

and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple!

84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley,

he provides a spring for them.

The rain even covers it with pools of water.

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along;

each one appears before God in Zion.

84:8 O Lord, sovereign God,

hear my prayer!

Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield!

Show concern for your chosen king!

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

than spending a thousand elsewhere.

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

than live in the tents of the wicked.

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector.

The Lord bestows favor and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.

84:12 O Lord who rules over all,

how blessed are those who trust in you!

Psalm 85

For the music director; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;

you restored the well-being of Jacob.

85:2 You pardoned the wrongdoing of your people;

you forgave all their sin. (Selah)

85:3 You withdrew all your fury;

you turned back from your raging anger.

85:4 Restore us, O God our deliverer!

Do not be displeased with us!

85:5 Will you stay mad at us forever?

Will you remain angry throughout future generations?

85:6 Will you not revive us once more?

Then your people will rejoice in you!

85:7 O Lord, show us your loyal love!

Bestow on us your deliverance!

85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says.

For he will make peace with his people, his faithful followers.

Yet they must not return to their foolish ways.

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance;

then his splendor will again appear in our land.

85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet;

deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss.

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky.

85:12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings,

and our land will yield its crops.

85:13 Deliverance goes before him,

and prepares a pathway for him.