84:10 Certainly 1 spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere. 2
I would rather stand at the entrance 3 to the temple of my God
than live 4 in the tents of the wicked.
By David.
28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!
My protector, 6 do not ignore me! 7
If you do not respond to me, 8
I will join 9 those who are descending into the grave. 10
1 tn Or “for.”
2 tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”
3 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).
4 tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.
5 sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.
6 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.
7 tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”
8 tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”
9 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
10 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.