Psalms 34:11

34:11 Come children! Listen to me!

I will teach you what it means to fear the Lord. ¹ 

Psalms 103:13

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ² 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ³ 

Psalms 127:3

127:3 Yes, ⁴  sons ⁵  are a gift from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward.

[34:11]  ¹ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord I will teach you.” In vv. 13-14 the psalmist explains to his audience what it means to “fear” the Lord.

[103:13]  ² tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ³ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[127:3]  ³ tn or “look.”

[127:3]  ⁴ 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.