The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 83
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 84 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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For the end, a Psalm for the sons of Korah, concerning the winepresses.
Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ ψαλμός.
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
Ὡς ἀγαπητὰ τὰ σκηνώματά σου Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων.
If therefore you feel the passions of this world, even when you are happy, you understand now that you are in the winepress....If therefore the world smile upon you with happiness, imagine yourself in the winepress, and say, "I found trouble and heaviness, and I did call upon the name of the Lord." He said not, I…
My soul longs, and faints for the courts of the Lord: My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God.
Ἐπιποθεῖ καὶ ἐκλείπει ἡ ψυχή μου εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς τοῦ Κυρίου· ἡ καρδία μου καὶ ἡ σάρξ μου ἠγαλλιάσαντο ἐπὶ Θεὸν ζῶντα·
Yea, the sparrow has found himself a home, And the turtledove a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, My King, and my God.
Καὶ γὰρ στρουθίον εὗρεν ἑαυτῷ οἰκίαν, καὶ τρυγὼν νοσσιὰν ἑαυτῇ, οὗ θήσει τὰ νοσσία ἑαυτῆς· τὰ θυσιαστήριά σου Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων, ὁ βασιλεύς μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου.
You have heard a groan in the winepress, "My soul longs and fails for the courts of the Lord:" hear how it holds out, rejoicing in hope: "My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God." Here they have rejoiced for that cause. Whence comes rejoicing, but of hope? Wherefore have they rejoiced? "In the living…
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: They will praise thee evermore. Pause.
Μακάριοι οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων αἰνέσουσί σε· διάψαλμα.
Blessed is the man whose help is of thee, O Lord; In his heart he has purposed to go up
Μακάριος ἀνὴρ οὗ ἐστιν ἡ ἀντίληψις αὐτοῦ παρὰ σοῦ, Κύριε· ἀναβάσεις ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ διέθετο,
The Valley of Weeping, to the place which he has appointed, For there the lawgiver will grant blessings.
εἰς τὴν κοιλάδα τοῦ κλαυθμῶνος, εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν ἔθετο· καὶ γὰρ εὐλογίας δώσει ὁ νομοθετῶν,
They shall go from strength to strength: The God of gods shall be seen in Zion.
πορεύσονται ἐκ δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν, ὀφθήσεται ὁ Θεὸς τῶν θεῶν ἐν Σιών.
O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: Hearken, O God of Jacob. Pause.
Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, εἰσάκουσον τῆς προσευχῆς μου, ἐνώτισαι ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ· διάψαλμα.
And again, from the thought of those joys he returns to his own sighs. He sees what has come before in hope, and where he is in reality....Therefore returning to the groans proper to this place, he says, "O Lord God of virtues, hear my prayer: hearken, O God of Jacob": for Jacob himself also You have made Israel out…
Behold, O God our defender, And look upon the face of thine anointed.
Ὑπερασπιστὰ ἡμῶν ἴδε ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐπίβλεψον ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ χριστοῦ σοῦ.
"Behold, O God our defender. And look on the face of Your Christ". For when does God not look upon the face of His Christ? What is this, "Look on the face of Your Christ"? By the face we are known. What is it then, Look on the face of Your Christ? Cause Your Christ to become known to all. Look on the face of Your…
For one day in thy courts is better than thousands. I would rather be an abject in the house of God, Than dwell in the tents of sinners.
Ὅτι κρείσσων ἡμέρα μία ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς σου, ὑπὲρ χιλιάδας· ἐξελεξάμην παραῤῥιπτεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ οἰκεῖν με ἐπὶ σκηνώμασιν ἁμαρτωλῶν.
"For one day in Your courts is better than a thousand". Those courts they were for which he sighed, for which he fainted. "My soul longs and fails for the courts of the Lord:" one day there is better than a thousand days. Men long for thousands of days, and wish to live here long: let them despise these thousands of…
For the Lord loves mercy and truth: God will give grace and glory: The Lord will not withhold good things from them that walk in innocence.
Ὅτι ἔλεον καὶ ἀλήθειαν ἀγαπᾷ Κύριος, ὁ Θεὸς χάριν καὶ δόξαν δώσει· Κύριος οὐχ ὑστερήσει τὰ ἀγαθὰ τοῖς πορευομένοις ἐν ἀκακίᾳ.
"I have chosen to be cast away in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners". For he found the valley of weeping, he found humility by which he might rise: he knows that if he would raise himself he shall fall, if he humble himself he shall be exalted: he has chosen to be cast away, that he…
O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in thee.
Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων, μακάριος ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἐλπίζων ἐπὶ σέ.
Every note is a real passage, quoted word for word from a published English translation, with its source. Nothing here is summarised or written by us. Some verses have many notes and some have none, because the Fathers wrote more on some passages than others.
All of these translations are in the public domain. The passages were matched to their verses by the Historical Christian Commentaries project, which also hosts the full texts we link to. The Fathers are a treasury of the Church's mind, and they are best read alongside the life of the Church: if a passage raises a question, bring it to your priest.