Psalms 84:1-2

Context

Psalm 84¹

For the music director; according to the gittith style;² written by the Korahites, a psalm.

84:1 How lovely is the place where you live,³

O Lord who rules over all!⁴

84:2 I desperately want to be⁵

in the courts of the Lord’s temple.⁶

My heart and my entire being⁷ shout for joy

to the living God.

Psalms 84:10

Context

84:10 Certainly⁸ spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere.⁹

I would rather stand at the entrance¹⁰ to the temple of my God

than live¹¹ in the tents of the wicked.

[84:1] ¹sn 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] ²tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument.

[84:1] ³tn 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] ⁴tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts.” The title draws attention to God’s sovereign position (see Ps 69:6).

[84:2] ⁵tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2] ⁶tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2] ⁷tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[84:10] ⁸tn Or “for.”

[84:10] ⁹tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10] ¹⁰tn 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] ¹¹tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.