Psalms 84:9-12

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield! ¹ 

Show concern for your chosen king! ² 

84:10 Certainly ³  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ⁴ 

I would rather stand at the entrance ⁵  to the temple of my God

than live ⁶  in the tents of the wicked.

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ⁷ 

The Lord bestows favor ⁸  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ⁹ 

84:12 O Lord who rules over all, ¹⁰ 

how blessed are those who trust in you! ¹¹ 

[84:9]  ¹ tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “your anointed one” here and with “our king” in Ps 89:18.

[84:9]  ² tn Heb “look [on] the face of your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (mÿshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17).

[84:10]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[84:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ⁸ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[84:12]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally “Lord of hosts.”

[84:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man [who] trusts in you.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to here is representative of all followers of God, as the use of the plural form in v. 12b indicates.