Psalms 84:4
in Psalms 84How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: They will be still praising thee. [Selah
KJV
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.
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This verse in Psalms 84
Commentary
6 notes on this verseBlessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord: that is, in the Church, whether the present one, or "the church of the firstborn." Forever and ever they will praise you. See what kind of office the martyrs have: it is that of the angels too. What they do in heaven, then, this we imitate on earth. So when we are called to the psalms and neglect them, we despise the praises of God.
This site's exposition
the sparrow hath found an house
on Psalms 84:3-4
The sparrow and the swallow have found a home at the very altars, the birds' unthinking nearness a rebuke to a man who longs for the same ground and cannot reach it. Verse 4's blessing falls not on visiting the house but on dwelling in it, and the praise named is continual, they will be still praising thee, worship as an unbroken occupation rather than an occasional act. Selah closes the verse, one of seventy one such marks in the Psalter, and no one knows with certainty what it means, a musical pause, so the Septuagint's diapsalma, or a lifted voice, or an instruction to weigh what was just said, each reading named by its own holders.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
on Psalms 84:3-4
For indeed the sparrow has found itself a home, and the turtledove a nest for itself where it may place its young. For the moment let us interpret it simply. See what he says. I desire, O Lord, your eternal tabernacles: my soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord: I desire to have some seat and little nest for my soul and my body.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They-That constantly abide in thy house; the priests and Levites, or other devout Jews who were there perpetually, as Anna, Luke ii, 36-37. They will - They are continually employed in that blessed work.
Blessed are those that dwell in thy house (not because they have good wages, a part of every sacrifice for themselves, which would enable them to keep a good table, but because they have good work): They will be still praising thee; and, if there be a heaven upon earth, it is in praising God, in continually praising him.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. Those he esteems to be highly favoured who are constantly engaged in divine worship—the canons residentiary, yea, the pew openers, the menials who sweep and dust. To come and go is refreshing, but to abide in the place of prayer must be heaven below. To be the guests of God, enjoying the hospitalities of heaven, set apart for holy work, screened from a noisy world, and familiar with sacred things—why this is surely the choicest heritage a son of man can possess. They will be still praising thee.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭שְׁרֵי | ʾashrei | how blessed! | H835 → | 45 times |
| יוֹשְׁבֵ֣י | yoshevei | [are those who] dwell of | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| בֵיתֶ֑ךָ | veitekha | house your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| ע֝֗וֹד | od | still | H5750 → | 490 times |
| יְֽהַלְל֥וּךָ | yehalukha | they praise you | H1984 → | 165 times |
| סֶּֽלָה׃ | selah | Selah | H5542 → | 74 times |
אַ֭שְׁרֵיhow blessed!
ʾashreiH835 →45 times
יוֹשְׁבֵ֣י[are those who] dwell of
yosheveiH3427 →1079 times
בֵיתֶ֑ךָhouse your
veitekhaH1004 →2046 times
ע֝֗וֹדstill
odH5750 →490 times
יְֽהַלְל֥וּךָthey praise you
yehalukhaH1984 →165 times
סֶּֽלָה׃Selah
selahH5542 →74 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 27:4One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the…
it leads to
- Psalms 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 26:8
O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
- Psalms 65:4
Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.
- Psalms 84:10
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.
- Psalms 23:6
Through
Psalms 23:6Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
it leads to
- Psalms 27:4
One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the…
- 2 Timothy 4:18
And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
- Psalms 36:7–10
How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!
- Psalms 27:4
About Psalms
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, Homily 63, on Psalm 83 (Alternate Series); Jerome, Homily 16, on Psalm 83; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.