Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty
_God_ of Jacob.
Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah; we found it in the fields of the wood.
We will go into his tabernacles; we will worship at his footstool.
Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou and the ark of thy strength.
Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints
shout for joy.
For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.
The LORD hath sworn _in_ truth unto David, he will not turn from it;
Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.
If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall
teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for
evermore.
For the LORD hath chosen Zion: he hath desired _it_ for his
habitation.
This _is_ my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.
I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with
bread.
I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall
shout aloud for joy.
There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for
mine anointed.
His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown
flourish.
This Psalm is a prayer, in which Solomon and the people of Israel beg
of God to preserve the priesthood and the kingdom: that is, that he
would maintain the true religion, the true worship of God, and a
prosperous and happy state of the kingdom among that people. In a
word, it is a prayer to God that he would be pleased to preserve the
ministry of the word above all things; and then also the laws, the
magistrates, and the public peace: for where these two things, the
word and the laws, are rightly constituted and preserved, there all
things go well with a kingdom.
In the eleventh verse, the Psalmist, turning his eye, as it were, to
the promise, feels the fullest assurance that he is heard. For God had
promised by oath that he would dwell in that place, namely, in
Jerusalem or Zion; and would bless both the priesthood and the
kingdom, if they would keep the commandments of their God, and obey
him.
Why the Psalmist calls, in the sixth verse, this habitation of God,
Jerusalem, “Ephratah,” and “the fields of the wood,” is explained in
my more full commentary elsewhere, on these “Psalms of Degrees.”