For the music director; according to the gittith style; 2 written by the Korahites, a psalm.
84:1 How lovely is the place where you live, 3
O Lord who rules over all! 4
84:10 Certainly 5 spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere. 6
I would rather stand at the entrance 7 to the temple of my God
than live 8 in the tents of the wicked.
1 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.
2 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument.
3 tn Or “your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the
4 tn Traditionally, “
5 tn Or “for.”
6 tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”
7 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).
8 tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.