Discovery BoxPsalms 107:36-37
Context107:36 He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
107:37 They cultivated 1 fields,
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit. 2
Psalms 128:1-5
ContextA song of ascents. 4
128:1 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers, 5
each one who keeps his commands! 6
128:2 You 7 will eat what you worked so hard to grow. 8
You will be blessed and secure. 9
128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 10
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children 11 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. 12
128:5 May the Lord bless you 13 from Zion,
that you might see 14 Jerusalem 15 prosper
all the days of your life,
Psalms 144:12-15
Context144:12 Then 16 our sons will be like plants,
that quickly grow to full size. 17
Our daughters will be like corner pillars, 18
carved like those in a palace. 19
144:13 Our storehouses 20 will be full,
providing all kinds of food. 21
Our sheep will multiply by the thousands
144:14 Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. 24
No one will break through our walls,
no one will be taken captive,
and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. 25
144:15 How blessed are the people who experience these things! 26
How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!
Isaiah 65:21-23
Context65:21 They will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
65:22 No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, 27
or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, 28
for my people will live as long as trees, 29
and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. 30
65:23 They will not work in vain,
or give birth to children that will experience disaster. 31
For the Lord will bless their children
and their descendants. 32
Zechariah 8:3-5
Context8:3 The Lord says, ‘I have returned to Zion and will live within Jerusalem. 33 Now Jerusalem will be called “truthful city,” “mountain of the Lord who rules over all,” “holy mountain.”’ 8:4 Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘Old men and women will once more live in the plazas of Jerusalem, each one leaning on a cane because of advanced age. 8:5 And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing. 34
[107:37] 1 tn Heb “sowed seed in.”
[107:37] 2 tn Heb “fruit [as] produce.”
[128:1] 3 sn Psalm 128. The psalmist observes that the godly individual has genuine happiness because the Lord rewards such a person with prosperity and numerous children.
[128:1] 4 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
[128:1] 5 tn Heb “every fearer of the
[128:1] 6 tn Heb “the one who walks in his ways.”
[128:2] 7 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] 8 tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”
[128:2] 9 tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”
[128:3] 10 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] 11 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] 12 tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the
[128:5] 13 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] 14 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.
[128:5] 15 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[144:12] 16 tn Some consider אֲשֶׁר (’asher) problematic, but here it probably indicates the anticipated consequence of the preceding request. (For other examples of אֲשֶׁר indicating purpose/result, see BDB 83 s.v. and HALOT 99 s.v.) If the psalmist – who appears to be a Davidic king preparing to fight a battle (see vv. 10-11) – is victorious, the whole nation will be spared invasion and defeat (see v. 14) and can flourish. Some prefer to emend the form to אַשְׁרֵי (“how blessed [are our sons]”). A suffixed noun sometimes follows אַשְׁרֵי (’ashrey; see 1 Kgs 10:8; Prov 20:7), but the presence of a comparative element (see “like plants”) after the suffixed noun makes the proposed reading too awkward syntactically.
[144:12] 17 tn Heb “grown up in their youth.” The translation assumes that “grown up” modifies “plants” (just as “carved” modifies “corner pillars” in the second half of the verse). Another option is to take “grown up” as a predicate in relation to “our sons,” in which case one might translate, “they will be strapping youths.”
[144:12] 18 tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here and in Zech 9:15, where it refers to the corners of an altar.
[144:12] 19 tn Heb “carved [in] the pattern of a palace.”
[144:13] 20 tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.
[144:13] 21 tn Heb “from kind to kind.” Some prefer to emend the text to מָזוֹן עַל מָזוֹן (mazon ’al mazon, “food upon food”).
[144:13] 22 tn Heb “they are innumerable.”
[144:13] 23 tn Heb “in outside places.” Here the term refers to pastures and fields (see Job 5:10; Prov 8:26).
[144:14] 24 tn Heb “weighted down.” This probably refers (1) to the cattle having the produce from the harvest placed on their backs to be transported to the storehouses (see BDB 687 s.v. סָבַל). Other options are (2) to take this as reference to the cattle being pregnant (see HALOT 741 s.v. סבל pu) or (3) to their being well-fed or fattened (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 288).
[144:14] 25 tn Heb “there [will be] no breach, and there [will be] no going out, and there [will be] no crying out in our broad places.”
[144:15] 26 tn Heb “[O] the happiness of the people who [it is] such to them.”
[65:22] 27 tn Heb “they will not build, and another live [in it].”
[65:22] 28 tn Heb “they will not plant, and another eat.”
[65:22] 29 tn Heb “for like the days of the tree [will be] the days of my people.”
[65:22] 30 tn Heb “the work of their hands” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “their hard-won gains.”
[65:23] 31 tn Heb “and they will not give birth to horror.”
[65:23] 32 tn Heb “for offspring blessed by the Lord they [will be], and their descendants along with them.”
[8:3] 33 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[8:5] 34 sn The references to longevity and to children living and playing in peace are eschatological in tone. Elsewhere the millennial kingdom is characterized in a similar manner (cf. Isa 65:20; Jer 31:12-13).
