Psalms 26:8
A plain-spoken deep dive on this verse. Read the chapter →
O LORD, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Holy David is in this psalm putting himself upon a solemn trial, not by God and his country, but by God and his own conscience, to both which he appeals touching his integrity (Psa 26:1, Psa 26:2), for the proof of which he alleges, I. His constant regard to God and his grace (Psa 26:3). II. His rooted antipathy to sin and sinners (Psa 26:4, Psa 26:5). III. His sincere affection to the ordinances of God, and his care about them (Psa 26:6-8). Having thus proved his integrity, 1. He deprecates the doom of the wicked (Psa 26:9, Psa 26:10). 2. He casts himself upon the mercy and grace of God, with a resolution to hold fast his integrity, and his hope in God (Psa 26:11, Psa 26:12). In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, what we must be and do that we may have the favour of God, and comfort in our own consciences, and comfort ourselves with it, as David does, if we can say that in any measure we have, through grace, answered to these characters. The learned Amyraldus, in his argument of his psalm, suggests that David is here, by the spirit of prophecy, carried out to speak of himself as a type of Christ, of whom what he here says of his spotless innocence, was fully and eminently true, and of him only, and to him we may apply it in singing this psalm. "We are complete in him." A psalm of David.
Open source ↗26:8 The sanctuary symbolized the manifest presence of the Lord (see 18:6).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
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.
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.
And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”
Finally, after three days they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
“Why were you looking for Me?” He asked. “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”
Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give for it my personal treasures of gold and silver, over and above all that I have provided for this holy temple:
The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
Then the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again.
These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.