Psalms 42:4

42:4 I will remember and weep! ¹ 

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. ² 

Psalms 55:14

55:14 We would share personal thoughts with each other; ³ 

in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd.

Psalms 63:1-3

Psalm 63 ⁴ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ⁵ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ⁶ 

My soul thirsts ⁷  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ⁸  land where there is no water.

63:2 Yes, ⁹  in the sanctuary I have seen you, ¹⁰ 

and witnessed ¹¹  your power and splendor.

63:3 Because ¹²  experiencing ¹³  your loyal love is better than life itself,

my lips will praise you.

Psalms 84:1-2

Psalm 84 ¹⁴ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ¹⁵  written by the Korahites, a psalm.

84:1 How lovely is the place where you live, ¹⁶ 

O Lord who rules over all! ¹⁷ 

84:2 I desperately want to be ¹⁸ 

in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ¹⁹ 

My heart and my entire being ²⁰  shout for joy

to the living God.

Psalms 84:10

84:10 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 119:111

119:111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,

for they give me joy. ²⁵ 

[42:4]  ¹ 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 Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).

[42:4]  ² 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.

[55:14]  ³ tn Heb “who together we would make counsel sweet.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the ongoing nature of the actions (the so-called customary use of the imperfect). Their relationship was characterized by such intimacy and friendship. See IBHS 502-3 §31.2b.

[63:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.

[63:1]  ⁵ sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.

[63:1]  ⁶ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ⁷ tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.

[63:2]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).

[63:2]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect verbal form is understood here as referring to a past experience which the psalmist desires to be repeated. Another option is to take the perfect as indicating the psalmist’s certitude that he will again stand in God’s presence in the sanctuary. In this case one can translate, “I will see you.”

[63:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

[63:3]  ¹² tn This line is understood as giving the basis for the praise promised in the following line. Another option is to take the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) as asseverative/emphasizing, “Indeed, your loyal love is better” (cf. NEB, which leaves the particle untranslated).

[63:3]  ¹³ tn The word “experiencing” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist does not speak here of divine loyal love in some abstract sense, but of loyal love revealed and experienced.

[84:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 84. The psalmist expresses his desire to be in God’s presence in the Jerusalem temple, for the Lord is the protector of his people.

[84:1]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument.

[84:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 43:3; 46:4; 132:5, 7).

[84:1]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts.” The title draws attention to God’s sovereign position (see Ps 69:6).

[84:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[84:10]  ²¹ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ²² tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[119:111]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for the joy of my heart [are] they.”