Psalms 27:4-6

27:4 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.

27:5 He will surely ⁴  give me shelter ⁵  in the day of danger; ⁶ 

he will hide me in his home; ⁷ 

he will place me ⁸  on an inaccessible rocky summit. ⁹ 

27:6 Now I will triumph

over my enemies who surround me! ¹⁰ 

I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ¹¹ 

I will sing praises to the Lord!

[27:4]  ¹ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “beauty.”

[27:5]  ⁴ tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.

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

[27:5]  ⁶ tn Or “trouble.”

[27:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “tent.”

[27:5]  ⁸ tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.

[27:5]  ⁹ 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.

[27:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”

[27:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).