1 How lovely is Your dwelling place,
O LORD of Hosts!
2 My soul longs, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she places her young near Your altars,
O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.
4 How blessed are those who dwell in Your house!
They are ever praising You.Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in You,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,1
they make it a place of springs;
even the autumn rain covers it with pools.3
1 Or Valley of Poplars
2 Or with blessings
7 They go from strength to strength,
until each appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob.Selah
9 Take notice of our shield, O God,
and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.
10 For better is one day in Your courts
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and a shield;
the LORD gives grace and glory;
He withholds no good thing
from those who walk with integrity.
12 O LORD of Hosts,
how blessed is the man who trusts in You!