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Psalm 84:10

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

8LORD, God of Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, God of Jacob. Selah.
9Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.
10For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11For the LORD God is a sun and a shield. The LORD will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
12LORD of Armies, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
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← Psalm 84:9Psalm 84:11 →
Notice

One day outweighs a thousand, and a doorkeeper’s place outranks a home among the wicked, challenging the measures used to judge a good life.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What makes a day worth having, measured against the singer’s desire for God’s courts?

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What appeals to you, or troubles you, about the singer’s preference for a doorkeeper’s place?

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Where might choosing God’s house over the tents of wickedness have a cost in your life?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 118:24This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!Both passages treasure a day in relation to the LORD: a day in his courts and the day he has made.
Psalm 27:4One thing I have asked of the LORD, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, to see the LORD’s beauty, and to …Both singers desire the LORD’s house, one preferring a doorkeeper’s place and the other seeking to dwell there throughout life.
Psalm 122:1A Song of Ascents. By David. I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to the LORD’s house!”The LORD’s house is a desired destination in both psalms, expressed through preference in Psalm 84 and gladness in Psalm 122.
Psalm 26:8–10LORD, I love the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells.Both passages express love for God’s house; Psalm 26 names it as the place where his glory dwells.
Philippians 3:20For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,The connection is broad: Psalm 84 prizes a place in God’s house, while Philippians speaks of citizenship in heaven.
Romans 8:5–6For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.Both passages contrast orientations toward life: preferring God’s house over wickedness, and setting the mind on the Spirit rather than the flesh.
Isaiah 58:13“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of the LORD honorable, and …Both passages value time associated with the LORD: a day in his courts and the Sabbath honored as a delight.
Hebrews 11:25choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time,Both describe a preference that rejects wickedness or sin, even when the chosen place involves humble service or ill treatment.
Proverbs 8:34Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts.Doorways mark a desired place in both texts: the doorkeeper at God’s house and the listener waiting at wisdom’s door posts.
Song of Songs 2:4He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.The shared thread is limited to a valued place: God’s house in the psalm and a banquet hall associated with love.
Luke 2:46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.The temple setting connects the passages: Psalm 84 treasures God’s courts, while Luke describes listening and questioning among the temple’s teachers.
Luke 15:19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’Both speakers express willingness to take a humble role, though the psalm voices preference and Luke’s speaker voices unworthiness.
Where this verse fits

Praise and worship. temptation. feeling distant from God.

What the Bible says about worship →What the Bible says about temptation →What the Bible says about doubt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Write Psalm 84:10’s two comparisons on a sheet of paper

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Encouragement

The doorkeeper has a humble place, yet the singer prefers it because it is in God’s house. The worth of that place rests in God.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 84:10. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 84 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).