Discovery BoxPsalms 128:1-3
ContextA song of ascents. 2
128:1 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers, 3
each one who keeps his commands! 4
128:2 You 5 will eat what you worked so hard to grow. 6
You will be blessed and secure. 7
128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 8
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children 9 will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
[128:1] 1 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] 2 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] 3 tn Heb “every fearer of the
[128:1] 4 tn Heb “the one who walks in his ways.”
[128:2] 5 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] 6 tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”
[128:2] 7 tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”
[128:3] 8 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] 9 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.
