Psalms 128:2-6

128:2 You ¹  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ² 

You will be blessed and secure. ³ 

128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine ⁴ 

in the inner rooms of your house;

your children ⁵  will be like olive branches,

as they sit all around your table.

128:4 Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord

will be blessed in this way. ⁶ 

128:5 May the Lord bless you ⁷  from Zion,

that you might see ⁸  Jerusalem ⁹  prosper

all the days of your life,

128:6 and that you might see ¹⁰  your grandchildren. ¹¹ 

May Israel experience peace! ¹² 

[128:2]  ¹ tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.

[128:2]  ² tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

[128:2]  ³ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”

[128:3]  ⁴ sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).

[128:3]  ⁵ tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.

[128:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”

[128:5]  ⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the imperatives that are subordinated to this clause in vv. 5b-6a). Having described the blessings that typically come to the godly, the psalmist concludes by praying that this ideal may become reality for the representative godly man being addressed.

[128:5]  ⁸ tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.

[128:5]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[128:6]  ¹⁰ tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive in v. 5a.

[128:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sons to your sons.”

[128:6]  ¹² tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 125:5).