127:3 Yes, 1 sons 2 are a gift from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
127:5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
They will not be put to shame 3 when they confront 4 enemies at the city gate.
1 tn or “look.”
2 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.
3 tn Being “put to shame” is here metonymic for being defeated, probably in a legal context, as the reference to the city gate suggests. One could be humiliated (Ps 69:12) or deprived of justice (Amos 5:12) at the gate, but with strong sons to defend the family interests this was less likely to happen.
4 tn Heb “speak with.”