Unless Yahweh Builds the House

¹Unless Yahweh builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless Yahweh watches the city,

The watchman keeps awake in vain.

²It is in vain that you rise up early,

That you sit out late,

O you who eat the bread of painful labors;

For in this manner, He gives sleep to His beloved.

³¶Behold, children are an inheritance of Yahweh,[#127:3 Or a heritage]

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

⁵How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them;

They will not be ashamed

When they speak with enemies in the gate.