O Lord of hosts, how lovely is your dwelling place

1 O LORD of hosts, how lovely is your dwelling place!
I cry aloud, I long for your abode;
The joys of earth have left my soul unsatisfied:
My heart and flesh desire the living God.
Within your walls the sparrow finds a nesting place,
That near your altars she may have her young:
How happy those who dwell within your house, O LORD,
By whom your holy praises are for ever sung!

2 How happy those who have in you the strength they need,
And in whose heart are Zion's pathways found!
The desert wastes they make a land of water-springs,
Till autumn rains refresh the barren ground.
From strength to strength they journey on their pilgrimage,
Until in God's own presence they appear:
O LORD of hosts, do good to your anointed one;
Receive my earnest prayer: O God of Jacob, hear!

3 How better, far, a single day within your courts,
Than thousands spent in any other way;
I'd rather wait upon the steps beside your door,
Than pitch my tent where wickedness holds sway.
For like a shield the LORD defends and covers us;
He gives us grace and crowns with glory too,
And nothing good withholds from those that walk aright:
O LORD of hosts, how happy all who trust in you!

Psalm 84, David G. Preston
© D.G. Preston/Jubilate Hymns
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