Discovery BoxPsalms 84:1--85:13
ContextFor 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 be 5
in the courts of the Lord’s temple. 6
My heart and my entire being 7 shout for joy
to the living God.
84:3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow 8 builds a nest,
where she can protect her young 9
near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,
my king and my God.
84:4 How blessed 10 are those who live in your temple
and praise you continually! (Selah)
84:5 How blessed are those who 11 find their strength in you,
and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple! 12
84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, 13
he provides a spring for them. 14
The rain 15 even covers it with pools of water. 16
84:7 They are sustained as they travel along; 17
each one appears 18 before God in Zion.
84:8 O Lord, sovereign God, 19
hear my prayer!
Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)
84:9 O God, take notice of our shield! 20
Show concern for your chosen king! 21
84:10 Certainly 22 spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere. 23
I would rather stand at the entrance 24 to the temple of my God
than live 25 in the tents of the wicked.
84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. 26
The Lord bestows favor 27 and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. 28
84:12 O Lord who rules over all, 29
how blessed are those who trust in you! 30
For the music director; written by the Korahites, a psalm.
85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;
you restored the well-being of Jacob. 32
85:2 You pardoned 33 the wrongdoing of your people;
you forgave 34 all their sin. (Selah)
85:3 You withdrew all your fury;
you turned back from your raging anger. 35
85:4 Restore us, O God our deliverer!
Do not be displeased with us! 36
85:5 Will you stay mad at us forever?
Will you remain angry throughout future generations? 37
85:6 Will you not revive us once more?
Then your people will rejoice in you!
85:7 O Lord, show us your loyal love!
Bestow on us your deliverance!
85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. 38
For he will make 39 peace with his people, his faithful followers. 40
Yet they must not 41 return to their foolish ways.
85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; 42
then his splendor will again appear in our land. 43
85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; 44
deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. 45
85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,
and deliverance looks down from the sky. 46
85:12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, 47
and our land will yield 48 its crops.
[84:1] 1 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] 2 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument.
[84:1] 3 tn Or “your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the
[84:1] 4 tn Traditionally, “
[84:2] 5 tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”
[84:2] 6 tn Heb “the courts of the
[84:2] 7 tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.
[84:3] 8 tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.
[84:3] 9 tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”
[84:4] 10 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see v. 12 and Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
[84:5] 11 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here was 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 in v. 5a is representative of followers of God, as the use of plural forms in vv. 5b-7 indicates.
[84:5] 12 tn Heb “roads [are] in their heart[s].” The roads are here those that lead to Zion (see v. 7).
[84:6] 13 tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”
[84:6] 14 tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew
[84:6] 15 tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).
[84:6] 16 tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).
[84:7] 17 tn Heb “they go from strength to strength.” The phrase “from strength to strength” occurs only here in the OT. With a verb of motion, the expression “from [common noun] to [same common noun]” normally suggests movement from one point to another or through successive points (see Num 36:7; 1 Chr 16:20; 17:5; Ps 105:13; Jer 25:32). Ps 84:7 may be emphasizing that the pilgrims move successively from one “place of strength” to another as they travel toward Jerusalem. All along the way they find adequate provisions and renewed energy for the trip.
[84:7] 18 tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one” ) sense.
[84:8] 19 tn Heb “
[84:9] 20 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] 21 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] 23 tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”
[84:10] 24 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] 25 tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.
[84:11] 26 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] 28 tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”
[84:12] 29 tn Traditionally “
[84:12] 30 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.
[85:1] 31 sn Psalm 85. God’s people recall how he forgave their sins in the past, pray that he might now restore them to his favor, and anticipate renewed blessings.
[85:1] 32 tn Heb “you turned with a turning [toward] Jacob.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv). See Pss 14:7; 53:6.
[85:2] 34 tn Heb “covered over.”
[85:3] 35 tn Heb “the rage of your anger.” The phrase “rage of your anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81. See Pss 69:24; 78:49.
[85:4] 36 tn Heb “break your displeasure with us.” Some prefer to emend הָפֵר (hafer, “break”) to הָסֵר (haser, “turn aside”).
[85:5] 37 tn Heb “Will your anger stretch to a generation and a generation?”
[85:8] 38 sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.
[85:8] 39 tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).
[85:8] 40 tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.
[85:8] 41 tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.
[85:9] 42 tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”
[85:9] 43 tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.
[85:10] 44 tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.
[85:10] 45 sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.
[85:11] 46 sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.
[85:12] 47 tn Heb “what is good.”
[85:12] 48 tn Both “bestow” and “yield” translate the same Hebrew verb (נָתַן, natan). The repetition of the word emphasizes that agricultural prosperity is the direct result of divine blessing.
[85:13] 50 tn Or “will prepare.”
[85:13] 51 tn Heb “and it prepares for a way his footsteps.” Some suggest emending וְיָשֵׂם (vÿyasem, “and prepares”) to וְשָׁלוֹם (vÿshalom, “and peace”) since “deliverance” and “peace” are closely related earlier in v. 13. This could be translated, “and peace [goes ahead, making] a pathway for his footsteps” (cf. NEB).
