Psalm 84

1 O Lord, thou has taken pleasure in thy land: thou hast turned back the captivity of Jacob.

2 Thou hast forgiven thy people their transgressions; thou has covered all their sins. Pause.

3 Thou has caused all thy wrath to cease: thou hast turned from thy fierce anger.

4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and turn thy anger away from us.

5 Wouldest thou be angry with us for ever? or wilt thou continue thy wrath from generation to generation?

6 O God, thou wilt turn and quicken us; and thy people shall rejoice in thee.

7 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

8 I will hear what the Lord God will say concerning me: for he shall speak peace to his people, and to his saints, and to those that turn their heart toward him.

9 Moreover his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

10 Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11 Truth has sprung out of the earth; and righteousness has looked down from heaven.

12 For the Lord will give goodness; and our land shall yield her fruit. Psalms 85:1 (This chapter is not yet available)

Psalm 84 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Of "gittith," See Gill on "Ps 8:1." The Targum renders it here, as there, "to praise upon the harp that was brought from Gath;" and of the sons of Korah, See Gill on "Ps 42:1" and the argument of this psalm is thought to be much the same with that and Psalm 43:1. It was, very probably, written by David; to whom the Targum, on Psalm 84:8, ascribes it; though it does not bear his name, the spirit it breathes, and the language in which it is written, show it to be his; though not when he was an exile among the Philistines, in the times of Saul, as some in Kimchi think; for then the ark was not in Zion, as is suggested Psalm 84:7, but elsewhere; for it was brought thither by David, after he was king of Israel, 2 Samuel 7:2, but rather when he fled from his son Absalom; though there is nothing in it that necessarily supposes him to be banished, or at a distance from the house of God; only he expresses his great affection for it, and his earnest desires for returning seasons and opportunities of worshipping God in it; and the general view of it is to set forth the blessedness of such who frequently attend divine service: the inscription of it, in the Syriac version, is, "for the sons of Korah, when David meditated to go out of Zion, to worship in the house of God: and it is called a prophecy concerning Christ, and concerning his church," as it undoubtedly is. Bishop Patrick thinks it was composed by some pious Levite in the country, when Sennacherib's army had blocked up the way to Jerusalem, and hindered them from waiting upon the service of God at the temple; and others refer it to the times of the Babylonish captivity; and both Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the captivity, when the temple and altars of God were in ruins; but this does not agree with the loveliness of them, in which they were at the time of writing this psalm.