Better Is One Day in Your Courts (John 1:14–18)
1 UDB Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, your temple is very beautiful! BSB BSB: For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts!
2 UDB I would like to be there; Yahweh, I desire that very much. With all my inner being I sing joyfully to you, the all-powerful God. BSB BSB: My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 UDB Even sparrows and swallows have built nests near your temple; they take care of their young babies near the altars where people offer sacrifices to you, commander of the angel armies, my king and my God. BSB BSB: 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 UDB How fortunate are those who are always in your temple, constantly singing to praise you. BSB BSB: How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah
5 UDB How fortunate are those whom you make strong, those who desire very much to make the trip up to Mount Zion. BSB BSB: Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 UDB While they travel through the dry Valley of Tears, you cause it to become a place where there are springs of water, where the rains in the autumn fill the valley with water, a blessing from you. BSB BSB: As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; even the autumn rain covers it with pools.
7 UDB As a result, those who travel through there become stronger knowing that they will appear in your presence on Mount Zion. BSB BSB: They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.
8 UDB Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, listen to my prayer; God, whom we descendants of Jacob worship, hear what I am saying! BSB BSB: O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 UDB God, act kindly toward our king, the one who protects us, the one whom you have chosen to rule us. BSB BSB: Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.
10 UDB For me, spending one day in your temple is better than spending a thousand days somewhere else; standing at the entrance to your temple, ready to go inside, is better than living in the tents where wicked people live. BSB BSB: 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 UDB Yahweh our God is like the sun that shines on us and like a shield that protects us; he acts favorably toward us and honors us. Yahweh does not refuse to give any good thing to those who do what is right. BSB BSB: 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 UDB Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, how fortunate are those who trust in you! BSB BSB: O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.