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Psalm 128:2-4
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 128:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 You will eat the fruit of your labors;
you will enjoy both blessings and prosperity.[a]
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine[b]
within your house;
your sons will be like shoots of an olive tree
around your table.
4 Such are the blessings that will be bestowed
on the man who fears the Lord.
Footnotes
- Psalm 128:2 In godly living, the judgment of God on humans (see Gen 3:17-19) is alleviated, for labor is truly blessed by God.
- Psalm 128:3 The imagery of vine and olive shoots recalls the times of David and Solomon (see 1 Ki 4:25) and the blessing associated with the Messianic Age (see Mic 4:4; Zec 3:10). To sit under one’s vine and fig tree symbolized tranquillity, peace, and prosperity. The metaphor of the vine indicates that the wife will be not only fruitful but also everything that a wife should be for the good of the family (see Prov 31:10-31). The children (shoots of an olive tree) will be strong and later on continue the father’s work (see Ps 52:10; Jer 11:16; Hos 14:6).