Better Is One Day in Your Courts (John 1:14–18)
1 UST Yahweh, commander of the heavenly armies, what a wonderful place your temple is! 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 UST I long greatly, deep inside, to be in the courtyards of Yahweh’ s temple. With my whole being I call out to the only true 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 UST Even little birds have built their nests near your temple, and that is where they are taking care of their babies. Yahweh, commander of the heavenly armies, you are 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 UST What a good life people have who live by your temple! They worship you continually there. Selah BSB BSB: How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah
5 UST What a good life people have whom you make strong so that they can travel to your temple as they greatly desire! BSB BSB: Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 UST As they pass through the{ arid} Valley of Baca, they dig wells to look for water, and God sends autumn rains that fill those wells with life- giving water. 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 UST They become stronger as they go, and each of them arrives at the temple in Zion where God is present. BSB BSB: They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.
8 UST Yahweh, you are the God who commands the heavenly armies. Please answer my prayer. You are the God whom we Israelite people worship. Please do what I ask. Selah BSB BSB: O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 UST God, please treat favorably the king you have appointed to protect us. BSB BSB: Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.
10 UST It is better be in your temple courtyards for a single day than to be anywhere else for a thousand days. I would rather stand at the entrance to the courtyard of my God’ s temple than stay in any of the{ comfortable} homes 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 UST Yahweh our God makes us prosper, just as the sun makes crops grow, and he protects us, just as a shield protects a warrior. He is kind to us and honors us. Yahweh gives people who live rightly every good thing that they need. 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 UST Yahweh, commander of the heavenly armies, what a good life people have who trust you! BSB BSB: O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!
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