Psalms / Chapter 127

Psalms 127

5 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

A psalm of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house and guards the city, all human labor is futile. God gives to his beloved even in sleep. The psalm then shifts to children: sons are an inheritance from the LORD, like arrows in a warrior's hand. The man whose quiver is full of them will not be put to shame when he confronts his opponents at the city gate.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This is the only Song of Ascents attributed to Solomon, and the attribution is deeply fitting. Solomon built the temple — the house of the LORD — yet the psalm opens by declaring that unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. If Solomon wrote or inspired this psalm, it is a confession that his greatest achievement depended entirely on God's initiative. The psalm contains one of the most radical statements about human effort in the entire Bible: it is useless (shav) to rise early, stay up late, and eat the bread of anxious toil, because God gives to his beloved in sleep. This is not an endorsement of laziness but a demolition of the illusion of self-sufficiency. The pivot to children in verses 3-5 is not a non sequitur — children are the ultimate example of something humans cannot manufacture by effort alone. They are nachalat YHWH ('an inheritance from the LORD'), a gift, not a product.

Translation Friction

The relationship between the two halves of this psalm has puzzled interpreters. Verses 1-2 address the futility of human effort without God; verses 3-5 celebrate children as God's gift. The connection becomes clear when 'house' (bayit) is understood in its full Hebrew range: bayit means both a physical building and a family/dynasty. Solomon's bayit was both a temple and a royal house. The psalm says God must build both — the structure and the family line. Without God, neither architecture nor offspring accomplishes anything.

Connections

The Solomonic attribution connects directly to 2 Samuel 7, where God tells David that God will build David a 'house' (dynasty), inverting David's plan to build God a house (temple). The futility language (shav, 'in vain') echoes Ecclesiastes, also attributed to Solomon, which repeatedly declares human effort hevel ('vapor, breath'). The arrow imagery for children appears in Isaiah 49:2, where the Servant of the LORD is described as a polished arrow hidden in God's quiver.

Psalms 127:1

שִׁ֥יר הַֽמַּעֲל֗וֹת לִשְׁלֹמֹ֫ה אִם־יְהוָ֤ה ׀ לֹא־יִבְנֶ֬ה בַ֗יִת שָׁ֤וְא ׀ עָמְל֣וּ בוֹנָ֣יו בּ֑וֹ אִם־יְהוָ֥ה לֹֽא־יִשְׁמׇר־עִ֝֗יר שָׁ֣וְא שָׁקַ֣ד שׁוֹמֵֽר׃

A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor over it in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

KJV Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Notes & Key Terms 2 terms

Key Terms

בַּיִת bayit
"house" — house, household, family, dynasty, temple, lineage

bayit is one of the most important words in the Hebrew Bible. It encompasses physical structures (a house to live in), family units (the 'house of David'), the temple ('the house of the LORD'), and dynastic succession (God's promise to build David a 'house' in 2 Samuel 7). This psalm exploits the full range: unless God builds the house, no house — architectural or familial — stands.

שָׁוְא shav
"in vain" — emptiness, vanity, futility, nothingness, falsehood

shav describes something that lacks substance or produces no result. It is the word used in the Decalogue's prohibition against taking God's name la-shav ('in vain, for emptiness'). Here it characterizes human effort divorced from divine purpose — not sinful, but substanceless.

Translator Notes

  1. The word shav ('in vain, emptiness') appears twice, framing both human activities — building and guarding — as equally futile without God. shav does not mean 'bad' or 'sinful'; it means 'empty, without substance, accomplishing nothing.' The psalm does not condemn work but reframes its meaning.
  2. The Solomonic attribution (li-Shelomoh) may indicate authorship, dedication, or association with the Solomonic wisdom tradition. Given the psalm's themes of building and God's sovereignty over human achievement, the connection to Solomon the temple-builder is theologically resonant regardless of the attribution's historical basis.
Psalms 127:2

שָׁ֤וְא לָכֶ֨ם ׀ מַשְׁכִּ֪ימֵי ק֡וּם מְאַֽחֲרֵי־שֶׁ֗בֶת אֹ֭כְלֵי לֶ֣חֶם הָעֲצָבִ֑ים כֵּ֤ן יִתֵּ֖ן לִֽידִיד֣וֹ שֵׁנָֽא׃

It is useless for you to rise early, to stay up late, to eat the bread of anxious toil — for he gives to his beloved in sleep.

KJV It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The word yedido ('his beloved') echoes the name Yedidyah ('beloved of the LORD'), the name God gave to Solomon through Nathan the prophet (2 Samuel 12:25). If this psalm is attributed to Solomon, the reference is deeply personal — Solomon himself is the beloved to whom God gives.
  2. The phrase lechem ha-atsavim ('bread of anxious toil') describes food earned through stress and worry — bread that tastes like anxiety because it was produced by it.
Psalms 127:3

הִנֵּ֤ה נַחֲלַ֣ת יְהוָ֣ה בָּנִ֑ים שָׂ֝כָ֗ר פְּרִ֣י הַבָּֽטֶן׃

Look — children are an inheritance from the LORD; the fruit of the womb is a reward.

KJV Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The word nachalat ('inheritance, portion, possession') is covenant language — a nachalah is land or wealth received as a divine gift, not earned by labor. Calling children nachalat YHWH ('an inheritance from the LORD') puts them in the same category as the promised land: something God gives, not something humans produce by their own power. The parallel term sakhar ('reward, wages') reinforces this: children are God's payment, God's gift-in-return.
Psalms 127:4

כְּחִצִּ֥ים בְּיַד־גִּבּ֑וֹר כֵּ֝֗ן בְּנֵ֣י הַנְּעוּרִֽים׃

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior — so are the children of one's youth.

KJV As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The phrase benei hane'urim ('children of youth') refers to children born when the parent is young and vigorous. The advantage is practical: these children will be adults while the parent is still active, providing support and advocacy (as verse 5 will specify).
Psalms 127:5

אַשְׁרֵ֤י הַגֶּ֗בֶר אֲשֶׁ֤ר מִלֵּ֬א אֶת־אַשְׁפָּת֗וֹ מֵהֶ֥ם לֹֽא־יֵבֹ֑שׁוּ כִּֽי־יְדַבְּר֖וּ אֶת־א֣וֹיְבִ֖ים בַּשָּֽׁעַר׃

Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will not be put to shame when they confront their enemies at the gate.

KJV Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The 'gate' (sha'ar) as a place of justice and public discourse appears throughout the Hebrew Bible (Ruth 4:1-11, Proverbs 31:23, Amos 5:15). Legal disputes, property transactions, and community leadership all centered at the city gate. Having sons present at the gate meant having advocates who could speak on your behalf, witness transactions, and defend family interests.
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