Better Is One Day in Your Courts

1How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts!

2My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

3Even 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.

4How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah

5Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

6As they pass through the Valley of Baca, ¹⁸⁸they make it a place of springs;
even the autumn rain covers it with pools. ¹⁸⁹

7They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.

8O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah

9Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.

10For 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.

11For 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.

12O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!