> [[psalm-126|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-128|Next →]] --- # Psalm 127 ## The Need of God’s Blessing 1 A 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. 2 It 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. ### II 3 Certainly sons are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them. He will never be shamed for he will destroy his foes at the gate. \* (Psalm 127) The Psalm puts together two proverbs ([Ps 127:1] – [2], [3] – [5]) on God establishing “houses” or families. The prosperity of human groups is not the work of human beings but the gift of God. \* (127:5) 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]. a. (127:2) [Eccl 2:24]. b. (127:3) [Ps 115:14]; [128:3]; [Dt 28:11]; [Prv 17:6]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[psalm-126|← Previous]] | [[psalm-00|TOC]] | [[psalm-128|Next →]]