How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place

This hymn praises God's dwelling (heaven) and expresses longing to be with God. Based on Psalm 84 it is suitable for funerals or memorial services, for opening or blessing churches, and as a hymn of assurance.

A hymn with this title was published, unattributed, in The Psalms of David in Meter (Edinburgh: Evan Tyler, 1650), which is usually known as The Scottish Psalter.

In the 1970s, English Christian musician and singer-songwriter Jonathan Asprey set an adaptation of the original hymn to a folk tune, while he was involved with the Charismatic Community of the Celebration. This setting was included in On Tiptoe, an album by the Fisherfolk released by Celebration Records in 1975, and later published in Cry Hosanna. A choral arrangement by Daniel Kallman (link below) was published by MorningStar 2018.

The tune which Asprey used is described as traditional Irish or Scots depending on who you ask. Some call it The Rocks of Bawn or The Homes of Donegal (Irish) or Tramps and Hawkers (Scottish) - and scholars suggest it is based on older tunes again (source).

With meter 8.6.8.6, tunes the original hymn has been set to include:

HARINGTON (Harington) by English composer Henry Harington (1727-1816)
SALZBURG (Haydn)
BROTHER JAMES AIR
MCKEE, a traditional Irish tune, adapted by African American slaves in the USA.

Hymn books where the Asprey version has been published include

Cry Hosanna, Celebration International, 1975
Complete Mission Praise, Marshall Pickering, London, England, 1999
The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook, Canterbury Press, Norwich, 2004
The Sing! Hymnal, Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois, USA, 2025.

Note: there are many other settings of Psalm 84, and thus hymns with tiles like "How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place". These two have been covered together because of their shared roots. But you may well be looking for a very different hymn with a similar title. Links to other Psalm 84 settings will be added as they become available.

Downloads

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PowerPoint slides

Downloadable arrangement for SAB or SATB choir with piano, by Daniel Kallman

Examples

Singer with guitar and band, tune ROCKS OF BAWN / HOMES OF DONEGAL

Singer with guitar-led band, professional recording, words on-screen, tune ROCKS OF BAWN / HOMES OF DONEGAL

1970s recording by the Fisherfolk, with guitar, words on-screen, tune ROCKS OF BAWN / HOMES OF DONEGAL

Signer with pipe/whistle and band: original words with new chorus, tune ROCKS OF BAWN / HOMES OF DONEGAL

Instrumental - organ improv based on ROCKS OF BAWN / HOMES OF DONEGAL

Singer, unaccompanied, original words, tune BROTHER JAMES AIR

Choir, unaccompanied, HARNINGTON

Singer with silver=flute, multi-track recording, tune MCKEEE

Instrumental - organ and piano, tune HARINGTON

Lyrics

Jonathan Asprey adaptation

How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts to me.
My soul is longing and fainting the courts of the Lord to see.
My heart and flesh they are singing for joy to the living God.
How lovely is Thy dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts to me.

Even the sparrow finds a home where he can settle down,
And the swallow she can build a nest where she may lay her young
Within the courts of the Lord of Hosts, my King, my Lord and my God.
And happy are those who are dwelling where the song of praise is sung.

And I’d rather be a doorkeeper and only stay a day,
Than live the life of a sinner and have to stay away.
For the Lord is shining as the sun, and the Lord is like a shield;
And no good thing does God withhold from those who walk the way.

Traditional lyrics from The Scottish Psalter

1 How lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of hosts, to me!
The tabernacles of thy grace
how pleasant, Lord, they be!

2 My thirsty soul longs veh'mently,
yea faints, thy courts to see:
My very heart and flesh cry out,
O living God, for thee.

3 Behold, the sparrow findeth out
an house wherein to rest;
The swallow also for herself
hath purchased a nest;

4 Ev'n thine own altars, where she safe
her young ones forth may bring,
O thou almighty Lord of hosts,
who art my God and King.

5 Blessed are they in thy house that dwell,
they ever give thee praise.
Blessed is the man whose strength thou art,
in whose heart are thy ways:

6 Who passing thorough Baca's vale,
therein do dig up wells;
Also the rain that falleth down
the pools with water fills.

7 So they from strength unwearied go
still forward unto strength,
Until in Zion they appear
before the Lord at length.

8 Lord God of hosts, my prayer hear;
O Jacob's God, give ear.
See God our shield, look on the face
of thine anointed dear.

9 For in thy courts one day excels
a thousand; rather in
My God's house will I keep a door,
than dwell in tents of sin.

10 For God the Lord's a sun and shield:
he'll grace and glory give;
And will withhold no good from them
that uprightly do live.

11 O thou that art the Lord of hosts,
that man is truly blest,
Who by assured confidence
on thee alone doth rest.

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Image adapted from Church of St Columba, Glencolmcille CCby4.0