841 What a beautiful home, God of the Angel Armies! I've always longed to live in a place like this, 2 Always dreamed of a room in your house, where I could sing for joy to God-alive! 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! 4 How blessed they are to live and sing there! 5 And how blessed all those in whom you live, whose lives become roads you travel; 6 They wind through lonesome valleys, come upon brooks, discover cool springs and pools brimming with rain! 7 God-traveled, these roads curve up the mountain, and at the last turn - Zion! God in full view!
8 God of the Angel Armies, listen: O God of Jacob, open your ears - I'm praying! 9 Look at our shields, glistening in the sun, our faces, shining with your gracious anointing. 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. 11 All sunshine and sovereign is God, generous in gifts and glory. He doesn't scrimp with his traveling companions. 12 It's smooth sailing all the way with God of the Angel Armies.
841 How dear are your tents, O Lord of armies! 2 The passion of my soul's desire is for the house of the Lord; my heart and my flesh are crying out for the living God. 3 The little birds have places for themselves, where they may put their young, even your altars, O Lord of armies, my King and my God. 4 Happy are they whose resting-place is in your house: they will still be praising you. (Selah.) 5 Happy is the man whose strength is in you; in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6 Going through the valley of balsam-trees, they make it a place of springs; it is clothed with blessings by the early rain. 7 They go from strength to strength; every one of them comes before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of armies, let my prayer come to you: give ear, O God of Jacob. (Selah.) 9 O God, let your eyes be on him who is our safe cover, and let your heart be turned to your king. 10 For a day in your house is better than a thousand. It is better to be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to be living in the tents of sin. 11 The Lord God is our sun and our strength: the Lord will give grace and glory: he will not keep back any good thing from those whose ways are upright. 12 O Lord of armies, happy is the man whose hope is in you.
841 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. 3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.[1] 6 As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah 9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! 10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. 12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!
