Psalms 27:4-6

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

this is what I desire!

I want to live 1  in the Lord’s house 2  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor 3  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

27:5 He will surely 4  give me shelter 5  in the day of danger; 6 

he will hide me in his home; 7 

he will place me 8  on an inaccessible rocky summit. 9 

27:6 Now I will triumph

over my enemies who surround me! 10 

I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! 11 

I will sing praises to the Lord!

1 tn Heb “my living.”

2 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).

3 tn Or “beauty.”

4 tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.

5 tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”

6 tn Or “trouble.”

7 tn Heb “tent.”

8 tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.

9 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.

10 tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”

sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).

11 tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).