Discovery BoxPsalms 84:1-3 
ContextFor 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
84:2 I desperately want to be 5
in the courts of the Lord’s temple. 6
My heart and my entire being 7 shout for joy
to the living God.
84:3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow 8 builds a nest,
where she can protect her young 9
near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,
my king and my God.
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 Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”
6 tn Heb “the courts of the
7 tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.
8 tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.
9 tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”
sn The psalmist here romanticizes the temple as a place of refuge and safety. As he thinks of the birds nesting near its roof, he envisions them finding protection in God’s presence.
