Discovery BoxPsalms 27:4
Context27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –
this is what I desire!
I want to live 1 in the Lord’s house 2 all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor 3 of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
Psalms 30:1
ContextA psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; 5 by David.
30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, 6
and did not allow my enemies to gloat 7 over me.
Psalms 31:2
ContextQuickly deliver me!
Be my protector and refuge, 9
a stronghold where I can be safe! 10
Psalms 42:4
Context42:4 I will remember and weep! 11
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. 12
Psalms 59:1
ContextFor the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; 14 a prayer 15 of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him. 16
59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!
Protect me 17 from those who attack me! 18
Psalms 84:3
Context84:3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow 19 builds a nest,
where she can protect her young 20
near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,
my king and my God.
Psalms 84:10
Context84:10 Certainly 21 spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere. 22
I would rather stand at the entrance 23 to the temple of my God
than live 24 in the tents of the wicked.
Psalms 134:1
ContextA song of ascents. 26
134:1 Attention! 27 Praise the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
who serve 28 in the Lord’s temple during the night.
[27:4] 2 sn The
[30:1] 4 sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.
[30:1] 5 tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.
[30:1] 6 tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the
[31:2] 7 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
[31:2] 8 tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”
[31:2] 9 tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”
[42:4] 10 tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the
[42:4] 11 tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ’eddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (’adirim, “nobles”) or ם-רִ[י]אַדִ (’adirim, “great,” with enclitic mem [ם]). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (’addir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.
[59:1] 13 sn Psalm 59. The psalmist calls down judgment on his foreign enemies, whom he compares to ravenous wild dogs.
[59:1] 14 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-58, 75.
[59:1] 15 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-58, 60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
[59:1] 16 tn Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.”
[59:1] 17 tn Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”
[59:1] 18 tn Heb “from those who raise themselves up [against] me.”
[84:3] 16 tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.
[84:3] 17 tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”
[84:10] 20 tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”
[84:10] 21 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).
[84:10] 22 tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.
[134:1] 22 sn Psalm 134. The psalmist calls on the temple servants to praise God (vv. 1-2). They in turn pronounce a blessing on the psalmist (v. 3).
[134:1] 23 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
