My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- KJV My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
- NKJV My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
- NASB My soul longed and even yearned for the courtyards of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
- NLT I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The psalmist's soul longs and even faints for the courts of the LORD, crying out for the living God. He yearns with his whole being to be in God's presence.
Overview
This intense longing reveals that the psalmist's deepest desire is God Himself, the living God, not just the temple courts. Heart and flesh together cry out, showing total devotion. Such holy longing is the mark of a soul satisfied only in God, fulfilled for believers in communion with Christ (cf. Ps. 42:1-2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 26:9My soul longs for You in the night; indeed, my spirit seeks You at dawn. For when Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
- Ps 42:1–2For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.
- Ps 63:1–2A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
- Ps 119:81My soul faints for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
- Ps 143:6I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah
- Ps 73:26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Ps 119:20My soul is consumed with longing for Your judgments at all times.
- Job 23:3If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.
- Song 5:8O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.
- Song 2:4–5He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.
- Isa 64:1If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 84:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.