1 How lovely are Thy dwellings, Jehovah of Hosts! 2 My soul longs, yea, even languishes, for the courts of Jehovah, My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Yea, the sparrow has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she lays her young, Thine altars, Jehovah of Hosts. My King and my God. 4 Blessed they that dwell in Thy house! They will be still praising Thee, Selah.
5 Blessed the man whose strength is in Thee, In whose heart are the ways! 6 [Who] passing through the valley of weeping make it a place of fountains, Yea, the early rain covers it with blessings. 7 They go from strength to strength, Each appears before God in Zion. 8 Jehovah, God of Hosts, hear my prayer, Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.
9 [Thou], our shield, behold, O God, And look upon the face of Thine anointed. 10 For better is a day in Thy courts than a thousand, Rather would I lie on the threshold in the house of my God, Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For Jehovah God is sun and shield, Grace and glory Jehovah gives, No good does He deny to them that walk in integrity. 12 Jehovah of hosts, Blessed the man that trusts in Thee!
The same longing for and delight in the sanctuary which found pathetic expression in Psalms xlii., xliii., inspire this psalm. Like these, it is ascribed in the superscription to the Korachites, whose office of door-keepers in the Temple seems alluded to in ver. 10. To infer, however, identity of authorship from similarity of tone is hazardous. The differences are as obvious as the resemblances. As Cheyne well says, "the notes of the singer of Psalms xlii., xliii., are here transposed into a different key. It is still 'Te saluto, te suspiro,' but no longer 'De longinquo te saluto' (to quote Hildebert)." The longings after God and the sanctuary, in the first part of the psalm, do not necessarily imply exile from the latter, for they may be felt when we are nearest to Him, and are, in fact, an element in that nearness. It is profitless to inquire what were the singer's circumstances. He expresses the perennial emotions of devout souls, and his words are as enduring and as universal as the aspirations which they so perfectly express. No doubt the psalm identifies enjoyment of God's presence with the worship of the visible sanctuary more closely than we have to do, but the true object of its longing is God, and so long as spirit is tied to body the most spiritual worship will be tied to form. The psalm may serve as a warning against premature attempts to dispense with outward aids to inward communion.
It is divided into three parts by the Selahs. The last verse of the first part prepares the way for the first of the second, by sounding the note of "Blessed they," etc., which is prolonged in ver. 5, The last verse of the second part (ver. 8) similarly prepares for the first of the third (ver. 9) by beginning the prayer which is prolonged there. In each part there is a verse pronouncing blessing on Jehovah's worshippers, and the variation in the designations of these gives the key to the progress of thought in the psalm. First comes the blessing on those who dwell in God's house (ver. 4), and that abiding is the theme of the first part. The description of those who are thus blessed is changed, in the second strophe, to "those in whose heart are the [pilgrim] ways," and the joys of the progress of the soul towards God are the theme of that strophe. Finally, for dwelling in and journeying towards the sanctuary is substituted the plain designation of "the man that trusts in Thee," which trust is the impulse to following after God and the condition of dwelling with Him; and its joys are the theme of the third part.