84
A psalm written by one of the descendants of Korah for the choir director
1 Lord, you who are the supreme commander of the armies of heaven,
your temple is very beautiful!
2 I [SYN] would like to be there;
Yahweh, I desire that very much [DOU].
With all my inner being I sing joyfully to you, the all-powerful God.
3 Even sparrows and swallows have built nests near your temple [DOU];
they take care of their young babies near the altars where people offer sacrifices to you,
who are the commander of the armies of heaven, and my king and my God.
4 ◄Happy are/You are pleased with► those who ◄live/continually worship► in your temple,
constantly singing to praise you.
(Think about that!)
5 Happy are those who know that you are the one who causes them to be strong,
those who strongly desire to ◄make the trip/go► to Zion Hill.
6 While they travel through the dry Baca Valley,
you cause it to become a place where there are springs of water,
where the rains ◄in the autumn/before the cold season► fill the valley with pools of water.
7 As a result, those who travel through there become stronger/refreshed
knowing that they will appear in your presence ◄on Zion Hill/in Jerusalem►.
8 Yahweh, commander of the armies of heaven, listen to my prayer;
God, who is worshiped by us ◄descendants of Jacob/Israeli people►, hear [IDI] what I am saying!
(Think about that!)
9 God, act kindly toward [IDI] our king, the one who protects us [MTY],
the one whom you have chosen [MTY] to rule us.
10 For me, spending one day in your temple
is better than spending a thousand days somewhere else;
standing at the entrance to your temple, ready to go inside,
is better than living in the tents/homes where wicked people live.
11 Yahweh our God is like the sun that shines on us and like a shield that protects us [MET];
he acts favorably toward us and honors us.
Yahweh does not refuse to give any good thing/blessing to those who do what is right.
12 Yahweh, commander of the armies of heaven,
◄happy are/you are pleased with► those who trust in you!
Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.