Psalms 128:1-5

Psalm 128 ¹ 

A 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.

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

will be blessed in this way. ¹⁰ 

128:5 May the Lord bless you ¹¹  from Zion,

that you might see ¹²  Jerusalem ¹³  prosper

all the days of your life,

[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 Lord.”

[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.

[128:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”

[128:5]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.

[128:5]  ¹³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.