Ma Tovu: The Prayer Upon Entering the Synagogue

Ma Tovu (also spelled Mah Tovu, "How good") is the short prayer traditionally said when entering a synagogue. It opens with Balaam's words over Israel in Numbers 24:5, "How good are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel," and continues with lines from the Psalms about coming into God's house with awe. Below you will find the full Ma Tovu text in Hebrew, transliteration and English, followed by what the lines mean and how you can pray them yourself.

When and where Ma Tovu is said

Traditionally, a Jewish worshiper says Ma Tovu while stepping through the synagogue door or settling into a seat before the morning service. In many prayer books it stands at the very front of the morning prayers, close to the blessings said on waking up (see The Traditional Jewish Prayer Upon Awakening). Many congregations also sing it together as an opening song. It has been set to a long list of melodies, which is why so many people go looking for the Ma Tovu lyrics.

The idea behind it is simple. You are walking into a place set apart for prayer, and before you ask God for anything, you acknowledge whose house it is. It works a little like knocking before you enter. Some congregations, including Roeh Israel in Jerusalem, recite this prayer together to open their service, right after the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13).

Five verses stitched into one prayer

Ma Tovu is not a new composition. Every line comes from the Tanakh:

• Numbers 24:5, Balaam's blessing over Israel's camp.
• Psalm 5:7 (5:8 in Hebrew Bibles), David entering God's house by His lovingkindness.
• Psalm 26:8, "I love the habitation of Your house."
• Psalm 95:6, reshaped from "let us worship and bow down" into the first person, "I will bow."
• Psalm 69:13 (69:14 in Hebrew Bibles), a prayer offered "at a favorable time."

The verses are ancient. The custom of gathering them into a prayer for entering the synagogue is much later, and it appears in medieval Jewish prayer books, not in first-century sources. So we should not picture Peter or Paul reciting Ma Tovu as a fixed text. What they did know, and know well, were the Scriptures inside it.

The Ma Tovu Prayer Text

Ma Tovu in Hebrew

מַה טּוֹבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל

וַאֲנִי בְּרֹב חַסְדְּךָ אָבוֹא בֵיתֶךָ
אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶה אֶל הֵיכַל קָדְשְׁךָ בְּיִרְאָתֶךָ

ה' אָהַבְתִּי מְעוֹן בֵּיתֶךָ
וּמְקוֹם מִשְׁכַּן כְּבוֹדֶךָ

וַאֲנִי אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶה וְאֶכְרָעָה
אֶבְרְכָה לִפְנֵי ה' עֹשִׂי

וַאֲנִי תְפִלָתִי לְךָ ה' עֵת רָצון
אֱלֹהִים בְּרָב חַסְדֶּךָ עֲנֵנִי בֶּאֱמֶת יִשְׁעֶךָ

Ma Tovu Transliteration

Ma tovu ohalecha Ya'akov, mishkenotecha Yisra'el.

Va'ani berov chasdecha avo veitecha,
Eshtachaveh el heichal kodshecha beyir'atecha.

Adonai, ahavti me'on beitecha
Umekom mishkan kevodecha.

Va'ani eshtachaveh ve'echra'ah,
Evrachah lifnei Adonai osi.

Va'ani tefilati lecha Adonai, et ratzon, Elohim, berov chasdecha, aneni be'emet yish'echa.

Ma Tovu English Translation

How good are your tents, O Jacob,
Your dwelling places, O Israel.

In the abundance of Your lovingkindness,
I will enter Your house;
I will bow down toward Your holy temple
In awe of You.

O Lord, I love the dwelling of Your house,
The place where Your glory resides.

I will bow and bend the knee,
I will kneel down before the Lord, my Maker.

As for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord,
At a favorable time, O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness,
Answer me with the truth of Your salvation.

Walking through the lines

"How good are your tents, O Jacob"

The first line belongs to Balaam, a foreign prophet hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel (Numbers 22-24). Three times he climbed a hill to curse, and three times blessing came out of his mouth instead. The third time, he looked down on the tribes camped in the plain and said, "How good are your tents."

Think about that. The first words many Jews speak on entering a house of prayer come from a man paid to destroy them. The lesson is hard to miss: God's blessing on His people cannot be bought, and it cannot be reversed.

The Jewish sages read "tents" as the houses of prayer and study, and "dwelling places" (mishkenot, from the same root as mishkan, the Tabernacle) as the place where God's presence dwelt, first in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. Rashi, the 11th-century commentator, passes on another old reading. He notes that Balaam saw that the tents were pitched so that no doorway faced another's, a camp marked by modesty and respect.

"In the abundance of Your lovingkindness, I will enter Your house"

David does not walk into God's house on his own merit. He comes in on God's chesed, His loyal covenant love. Then he bows "toward Your holy temple," which is a direction as much as an attitude. Jews around the world still face Jerusalem when they pray.

"O Lord, I love the dwelling of Your house"

Psalm 26:8 is a love sentence, not a duty sentence. The "place where Your glory resides" recalls the day the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34). Going to pray is not just showing up. It is coming near to where God has chosen to make Himself known.

"I will bow and bend the knee"

Psalm 95:6 calls the whole congregation: "Let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Ma Tovu takes that group invitation and makes it personal. I will bow. My Maker. Before you can pray with others, you have to bring yourself.

"At a favorable time"

The last lines come from Psalm 69:13, a psalm written from deep trouble. The same verse is sung in many synagogues at the Shabbat afternoon service. Notice the final word, yish'echa, "Your salvation." It comes from the same Hebrew root as the name Yeshua.

Ma Tovu and the world of Yeshua and the apostles

The prayer as a set text is later, but every theme in it would have felt at home in first-century Israel. Synagogues were already part of Jewish life. Luke tells us that Yeshua went to the synagogue in Nazareth on Shabbat "as was His custom" (Luke 4:16), and James reminds the Jerusalem council that Moses was read in the synagogues every Shabbat (Acts 15:21). Paul, too, began his work in city after city in the synagogue (Acts 13:14-15). We explore that pattern further in Paul and the Synagogue.

The Temple, the "holy temple" of Psalm 5, was still standing. Anna served God there with fasting and prayer (Luke 2:37). After the resurrection, the disciples "were continually in the temple blessing God" (Luke 24:53), and Peter and John went up at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1).

Psalm 69 was one of the psalms the apostles reached for most often when explaining Yeshua's life. John recalls "zeal for Your house will consume Me" (John 2:17, from Psalm 69:9). Yeshua Himself applies "they hated Me without a cause" to His own rejection (John 15:25, compare Psalm 69:4). Peter quotes it in Acts 1:20, and Paul in Romans 15:3.

The last line of Ma Tovu has another echo. Isaiah 49:8 reads, "In a favorable time (be'et ratzon) I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Paul quotes that verse and adds, "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). The prayer that asks God to answer "at a favorable time" with "Your salvation" finds its answer there.

Even the idea of God's dwelling carries forward. John writes that the Word "dwelt among us" (John 1:14), using a Greek verb that literally means to pitch a tent. Paul tells believers that together they are being built into "a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22, see also 1 Corinthians 3:16). And the apostles knew Balaam's story well enough to use him as a warning (2 Peter 2:15, Jude 11, Revelation 2:14).

Praying Ma Tovu today

Nothing in Ma Tovu is limited to a synagogue building. Any believer who loves God's house can pray it.

At the church door. Say the first line quietly as you walk into Sunday worship. It slows you down and reminds you why you came.

At home. Pray it before family devotions, at the start of your time in the Bible, or before the Shabbat meal. Your home can be one of Jacob's "good tents."

With children. Teach the first line in Hebrew. It is short, it sings well, and it gives them a picture: God's people, camped together, blessed even when someone wanted them cursed.

Line by line. If the Hebrew feels like a lot, start with the transliteration and one phrase a week. By the time you reach "aneni be'emet yish'echa," you will have prayed through five passages of Scripture.

In the synagogue, Ma Tovu is only the doorway. Later in the service comes the call to prayer, Barchu, and then the Shema. For this week, try reading Numbers 22-24 in one sitting, then pray Psalm 26 slowly. Ask yourself the question the prayer quietly raises: when you walk into the place where God's people gather, do you come in loving it?

Questions people ask

What does Ma Tovu mean?

Ma Tovu is Hebrew for "How good." The full opening line, "Ma tovu ohalecha Ya'akov, mishkenotecha Yisra'el," means "How good are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel." It comes from Numbers 24:5.

What are the Ma Tovu lyrics in transliteration?

The prayer begins "Ma tovu ohalecha Ya'akov, mishkenotecha Yisra'el" and ends "Elohim, berov chasdecha, aneni be'emet yish'echa." The full transliteration, along with the Hebrew and English, is given on this page with the original line breaks, so you can sing along with any melody.

Where does the Ma Tovu prayer come from?

Every line comes from Scripture: Numbers 24:5, Psalm 5:7, Psalm 26:8, Psalm 95:6 and Psalm 69:13. The verses are ancient, but gathering them into a prayer for entering the synagogue is a later custom found in medieval Jewish prayer books.

Is it Ma Tovu or Mah Tovu?

Both spellings refer to the same prayer. The Hebrew word מַה is transliterated either way, and you will find both in prayer books and songbooks.

When is Ma Tovu said?

Traditionally it is said on entering the synagogue, usually before the morning service, and many congregations sing it together as an opening song. Believers can also pray it before church, at the start of family prayer, or before reading Scripture at home.