Discovery BoxPsalms 128:3-6 
Context128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 1
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children 2 will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
128:4 Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed in this way. 3
128:5 May the Lord bless you 4 from Zion,
that you might see 5 Jerusalem 6 prosper
all the days of your life,
128:6 and that you might see 7 your grandchildren. 8
May Israel experience peace! 9
1 sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).
2 tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.
3 tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the
4 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the imperatives that are subordinated to this clause in vv. 5b-6a). Having described the blessings that typically come to the godly, the psalmist concludes by praying that this ideal may become reality for the representative godly man being addressed.
5 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.
6 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
7 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive in v. 5a.
8 tn Heb “sons to your sons.”
9 tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 125:5).
