Mazmur 26:8

26:8 O Lord, I love the temple where you live, ¹ 

the place where your splendor is revealed. ² 

Mazmur 27:4-5

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ³  in the Lord’s house ⁴  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ⁵  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

27:5 He will surely ⁶  give me shelter ⁷  in the day of danger; ⁸ 

he will hide me in his home; ⁹ 

he will place me ¹⁰  on an inaccessible rocky summit. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 42:1-2

Book 2
(Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42 ¹² 

For the music director; a well-written song ¹³  by the Korahites.

42:1 As a deer ¹⁴  longs ¹⁵  for streams of water,

so I long ¹⁶  for you, O God!

42:2 I thirst ¹⁷  for God,

for the living God.

I say, ¹⁸  “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 43:3-4

43:3 Reveal ²⁰  your light ²¹  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ²² 

they will escort ²³  me back to your holy hill, ²⁴ 

and to the place where you live. ²⁵ 

43:4 Then I will go ²⁶  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ²⁷ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ²⁸  O God, my God, with a harp.

Mazmur 63:1-2

Psalm 63 ²⁹ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ³⁰ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ³¹ 

My soul thirsts ³²  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ³³  land where there is no water.

63:2 Yes, ³⁴  in the sanctuary I have seen you, ³⁵ 

and witnessed ³⁶  your power and splendor.

Mazmur 84:1-3

Psalm 84 ³⁷ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ³⁸  written by the Korahites, a psalm.

84:1 How lovely is the place where you live, ³⁹ 

O Lord who rules over all! ⁴⁰ 

84:2 I desperately want to be ⁴¹ 

in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ⁴² 

My heart and my entire being ⁴³  shout for joy

to the living God.

84:3 Even the birds find a home there,

and the swallow ⁴⁴  builds a nest,

where she can protect her young ⁴⁵ 

near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,

my king and my God.

Mazmur 84:10

84:10 Certainly ⁴⁶  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ⁴⁷ 

I would rather stand at the entrance ⁴⁸  to the temple of my God

than live ⁴⁹  in the tents of the wicked.

Mazmur 122:1

Psalm 122 ⁵⁰ 

A song of ascents, ⁵¹  by David.

122:1 I was glad because ⁵²  they said to me,

“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”

Mazmur 122:9

122:9 For the sake of the temple of the Lord our God

I will pray for you to prosper. ⁵³ 

Yesaya 38:22

38:22 Hezekiah said, “What is the confirming sign that I will go up to the Lord’s temple?”

[26:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the dwelling of your house.”

[26:8]  ² tn Heb “the place of the abode of your splendor.”

[27:4]  ³ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “beauty.”

[27:5]  ⁶ tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.

[27:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”

[27:5]  ⁸ tn Or “trouble.”

[27:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “tent.”

[27:5]  ¹⁰ tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.

[27:5]  ¹¹ 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.

[42:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.

[42:1]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[42:1]  ¹⁴ tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.

[42:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “pants [with thirst].”

[42:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[42:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “my soul thirsts.”

[42:2]  ¹⁸ tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[42:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).

[43:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “send.”

[43:3]  ²¹ sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

[43:3]  ²² tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

[43:3]  ²³ tn Heb “bring.”

[43:3]  ²⁴ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

[43:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “to 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 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

[43:4]  ²⁶ tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

[43:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. 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.

[43:4]  ²⁸ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.

[63:1]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ³² tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).

[63:2]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

[84:1]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument.

[84:1]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts.” The title draws attention to God’s sovereign position (see Ps 69:6).

[84:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2]  ⁴³ tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[84:3]  ⁴⁴ tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.

[84:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”

[84:3]  sn The psalmist here romanticizes the temple as a place of refuge and safety. As he thinks of the birds nesting near its roof, he envisions them finding protection in God’s presence.

[84:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ⁴⁸ 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]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[122:1]  ⁵⁰ sn Psalm 122. The psalmist expresses his love for Jerusalem and promises to pray for the city’s security.

[122:1]  ⁵¹ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[122:1]  ⁵² tn Heb “in the ones saying to me.” After the verb שָׂמַח (samakh), the preposition בְּ (bet) usually introduces the reason for joy.

[122:9]  ⁵³ tn Heb “I will seek good for you.” The psalmist will seek Jerusalem’s “good” through prayer.