Psalms 127
127
The Need of God’s Blessing
1A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
I
Unless the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain who build.
Unless the Lord guard the city,
in vain does the guard keep watch.
2It is vain for you to rise early
and put off your rest at night,
To eat bread earned by hard toil—
all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.#Eccl 2:24.
II
3Certainly sons are a gift from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb, a reward.#Ps 115:14; 128:3; Dt 28:11; Prv 17:6.
4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons born in one’s youth.
5Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
He will never be shamed
for he will destroy his foes at the gate.#At the gate: the reference is not to enemies besieging the walls of a city but to adversaries in litigation. Law courts functioned in the open area near the main city gate. The more adult sons a man had, the more forceful he would appear in disputes, cf. Prv 31:23.
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Psalms 127: NABRE
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