Psalms 127:3-5

127:3 Yes, ¹  sons ²  are a gift from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward.

127:4 Sons born during one’s youth

are like arrows in a warrior’s hand. ³ 

127:5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

They will not be put to shame ⁴  when they confront ⁵  enemies at the city gate.

Psalms 128:2-4

128:2 You ⁶  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ⁷ 

You will be blessed and secure. ⁸ 

128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine ⁹ 

in the inner rooms of your house;

your children ¹⁰  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. ¹¹ 

Malachi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ¹²  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ¹³  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

[127:3]  ¹ tn or “look.”

[127:3]  ² tn Some prefer to translate this term with the gender neutral “children,” but “sons” are plainly in view here, as the following verses make clear. Daughters are certainly wonderful additions to a family, but in ancient Israelite culture sons were the “arrows” that gave a man security in his old age, for they could defend the family interests at the city gate, where the legal and economic issues of the community were settled.

[127:4]  ³ tn Heb “like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so [are] sons of youth.” Arrows are used in combat to defend oneself against enemies; sons are viewed here as providing social security and protection (see v. 5). The phrase “sons of youth” is elliptical, meaning “sons [born during the father’s] youth.” Such sons will have grown up to be mature adults and will have children of their own by the time the father reaches old age and becomes vulnerable to enemies. Contrast the phrase “son of old age” in Gen 37:3 (see also 44:20), which refers to Jacob’s age when Joseph was born.

[127:5]  ⁴ tn Being “put to shame” is here metonymic for being defeated, probably in a legal context, as the reference to the city gate suggests. One could be humiliated (Ps 69:12) or deprived of justice (Amos 5:12) at the gate, but with strong sons to defend the family interests this was less likely to happen.

[127:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “speak with.”

[128:2]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

[128:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”

[128:3]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”

[2:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”