My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.1 A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

¹How lovely is your dwelling place,

O Lord of hosts!

²My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the Lord;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

³Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O Lord of hosts,

my King and my God.

⁴Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

⁵Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.2

⁶As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

⁷They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

⁸O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

⁹Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

¹⁰For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

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

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

¹²O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!