Psalm 84:2-4 New English Translation
2 I desperately want to be[a]
in the courts of the Lord’s temple.[b]
My heart and my entire being[c] shout for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow[d] builds a nest,
where she can protect her young[e]
near your altars, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
my King and my God.
4 How blessed[f] are those who live in your temple
and praise you continually. (Selah)
Footnotes
- Psalm 84:2 tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”
- Psalm 84:2 tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).
- Psalm 84:2 tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.
- Psalm 84:3 tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.
- Psalm 84:3 tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”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.
- Psalm 84:4 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).
New English Translation (NET)
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