This verse is where the question of tense is crucial. (See the comment on tense at verse 14.) Thou wilt bring them in is literally “you will cause them to enter.” Most translations shift to the future tense with this verse, as though the people have not yet entered the promised land. A few, however, retain the past tense (“You brought them in”; New English Bible, New American Bible, New Revised Standard Version), placing the song in the future, after the people had already settled in Canaan. Good News Translation uses the present tense, “You bring them in,” in order to make this song meaningful for all time. In this way the worshiping community can celebrate both the deliverance from slavery and the hope for the future. Translators are here encouraged to follow Good News Translation‘s interpretation.

And plant them uses the term for planting a garden, meaning that Yahweh will “establish them” (Durham) in their new location. “Settle them” or “let them live” are other possibilities. Them may also be expressed as “your people.” On thy own mountain is literally “on the mountain of your heritage” (meaning an inherited possession). This mountain probably refers to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, which was later recognized as the place of Yahweh’s abode. (See verse 13.) The place refers back to the mountain. This phrase will be expressed in some languages as the equivalent of “where,” as in “where you, O LORD, have….” Which thou hast made for thy abode is literally “a place for you to sit [which] you made.” New American Bible has “the place where you made your seat,” but the word “to sit” is also the word “to dwell.” Good News Translation is more natural: “the place that you, LORD, have chosen for your home.” One may also say “where you, O LORD, have chosen to live.”

The sanctuary is literally “a holy place.” After the time of Solomon, of course, this referred to the Temple in Jerusalem. O LORD appears twice in this verse as a vocative; that is, it is addressed to Yahweh. This second instance, however, should really be “O Lord” (lower case), since the Hebrew Masoretic Text uses ʾadonay instead of Yahweh. Most translations follow the Septuagint and other ancient Hebrew texts, which read it as Yahweh. Surprisingly only a few follow the Masoretic Text (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version, Durham). Which thy hands have established uses a verb meaning to prepare or make firm. So Good News Translation has “the temple that you yourself have built.” One may also express this as “that is, the temple….” Other ways to express the sanctuary (or, temple) are “your home” (Good News Translation), “your house,” “your important house,” or even “the place where people worship you.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

You, O LORD, bring your people in and let them live on your mountain,
where you have chosen to live—
that is, the temple which you, LORD, have built.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .