Psalms 27:3-5

27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,

I do not fear. ¹ 

Even when war is imminent, ² 

I remain confident. ³ 

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ⁴  in the Lord’s house ⁵  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ⁶  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

27:5 He will surely ⁷  give me shelter ⁸  in the day of danger; ⁹ 

he will hide me in his home; ¹⁰ 

he will place me ¹¹  on an inaccessible rocky summit. ¹² 

[27:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”

[27:3]  ² tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”

[27:3]  ³ tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”

[27:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ⁵ sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[27:4]  ⁶ tn Or “beauty.”

[27:5]  ⁷ tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.

[27:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”

[27:5]  ⁹ tn Or “trouble.”

[27:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “tent.”

[27:5]  ¹¹ tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.

[27:5]  ¹² tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The Lord places the psalmist in an inaccessible place where his enemies cannot reach him. See Ps 18:2.