Psalms 127:1-5
1 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.
2 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.
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 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.
CXXVII. A. This Ps. is, as is now generally admitted, composed of two independent Pss. In Psalms 127 A, i.e. in Psalms 127:1 f. the Psalmist's theme is the vanity of toil without Yahweh's blessing. The house was taken to mean the Temple: hence in the received text, but not in the LXX, the Ps. is ascribed to Solomon. At the end of Psalms 127:2 render, So, i.e. as fully as others get by their toilhe giveth to his beloved in sleep. But the text is almost certainly corrupt.
B. Psalms 127:3. Sons a Gift Bestowed by Yahweh.
Psalms 127:4. children of youth, i.e. begotten in the vigorous youth of the fathers, are a stalwart bodyguard round their parent. They are compared to arrows in a warrior's hand and quiver. But the Ps. points to a time of peace rather than of war. It is not in the battlefield but in the gate, where legal cases are decided, that a man with many sons finds redress, corrupt as Oriental courts have usually been. His numerous progeny prevent his being put to shame, i.e. disappointed (Job 5:4 *).