Psalm 84:10-12

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 84:10 tn Or “for.”
2. Psalm 84:10 tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”
3. Psalm 84:10 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. Psalm 84:10 tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.
5. Psalm 84:11 tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.
6. Psalm 84:11 tn Or “grace.”
7. Psalm 84:11 tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”
8. Psalm 84:12 tn Traditionally “Lord of hosts.”
9. Psalm 84:12 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man [who] trusts in you.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to here is representative of all followers of God, as the use of the plural form in v. 12b indicates.