Longeth, yea fainteth my soul
For the courts of Yahwe;
My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God.
—Verses 2-3.
He envies the birds which nest in the temple (verse 4), the priests who are continually in the sanctuary praising God, and the men who, by God’s favor, are privileged to pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to pass from rampart to rampart, and to behold God in Zion. Psalm 84 therefore deserves to be grouped with the hymns in praise of the temple.
As Psalm 84 has kinship with the psalms of lamentation and supplication, so Psalm 122 has a certain kinship with the psalms of faith. In the latter the psalmist has a joyous confidence in Yahwe, in this psalm he has great joy in the temple and the holy city. Verses 1 and 2 affirm his joy in the temple, and his positive intention of attending in company with others the great festivals:
I am glad whenever they say unto me,
Let us go to the house of Yahwe.
Our feet shall assuredly stand
Within thy gates O Jerusalem.