The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 What a beautiful home, God of the Angel Armies! I've always longed to live in a place like this,
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<<For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.>> How lovely are your dwellings, Yahweh of Hosts!
2 Always dreamed of a room in your house, where I could sing for joy to God-alive!
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My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship. God of the Angel Armies! King! God!
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Yes, the sparrow has found a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, Near your altars, Yahweh of Hosts, My King, and my God.
4 How blessed they are to live and sing there!
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Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are always praising you. Selah.
5 And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel;
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Blessed is the man whose strength is in you; Who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.
6 They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain!
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Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs. Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings.
7 God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn - Zion! God in full view!
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They go from strength to strength. Everyone of them appears before God in Zion.
8 God of the Angel Armies, listen: O God of Jacob, open your ears - I'm praying!
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Yahweh, God of hosts, hear my prayer. Listen, God of Jacob. Selah.
9 Look at our shields, glistening in the sun, our faces, shining with your gracious anointing.
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Behold, God our shield, Look at the face of your anointed.
10 One day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I'd rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palace of sin.
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For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn't scrimp with his traveling companions.
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For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
12 It's smooth sailing all the way with God of the Angel Armies.
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Yahweh of Hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in you.