Psalm 84–85

Wishing to Be in the Temple

For the director of music. On the gittith. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

84Lord All-Powerful,

how lovely is your Temple!

²I want more than anything

to be in the courtyards of the Lord’s Temple.

My whole being wants

to be with the living God.

³The sparrows have found a home,

and the swallows have nests.

They raise their young near your altars,

Lord All-Powerful, my King and my God.

⁴Happy are the people who live at your Temple;

they are always praising you.

Selah

⁵Happy are those whose strength comes from you,

who want to travel to Jerusalem.

⁶As they pass through the Valley of Baca,

they make it like a spring.

The autumn rains fill it with pools of water.

⁷The people get stronger as they go,

and everyone meets with God in Jerusalem.

⁸Lord God All-Powerful, hear my prayer;

God of Jacob, listen to me.

Selah

⁹God, look at our shield;

be kind to your appointed king.

¹⁰One day in the courtyards of your Temple is better

than a thousand days anywhere else.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the Temple of my God

than live in the homes of the wicked.

¹¹The Lord God is like a sun and shield;

the Lord gives us kindness and honor.

He does not hold back anything good

from those whose lives are innocent.

¹²Lord All-Powerful,

happy are the people who trust you!

A Prayer for the Nation

For the director of music. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

85Lord, you have been kind to your land;

you brought back the people of Jacob.

²You forgave the guilt of the people

and covered all their sins.

Selah

³You stopped all your anger;

you turned back from your strong anger.

⁴God our Savior, bring us back again.

Stop being angry with us.

⁵Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you stay angry from now on?

⁶Won’t you give us life again?

Your people would rejoice in you.

⁷Lord, show us your love,

and save us.

⁸I will listen to God the Lord.

He has ordered peace for those who worship him.

Don’t let them go back to foolishness.

⁹God will soon save those who respect him,

and his glory will be seen in our land.

¹⁰Love and truth belong to God’s people;

goodness and peace will be theirs.

¹¹On earth people will be loyal to God,

and God’s goodness will shine down from heaven.

¹²The Lord will give his goodness,

and the land will give its crops.

¹³Goodness will go before God

and prepare the way for him.