Discovery BoxPsalms 65:4 
Context65:4 How blessed 1 is the one whom you choose,
and allow to live in your palace courts. 2
May we be satisfied with the good things of your house –
your holy palace. 3
Psalms 127:1
ContextA song of ascents, 5 by Solomon.
127:1 If the Lord does not build a house, 6
then those who build it work in vain.
If the Lord does not guard a city, 7
then the watchman stands guard in vain.
Psalms 128:3
Context128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 8
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children 9 will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
1 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
2 tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”
3 tn Or “temple.”
4 sn Psalm 127. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist teaches that one does not find security by one’s own efforts, for God alone gives stability and security.
5 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
6 sn The expression build a house may have a double meaning here. It may refer on the surface level to a literal physical structure in which a family lives, but at a deeper, metaphorical level it refers to building, perpetuating, and maintaining a family line. See Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; 1 Sam 2:35; 2 Sam 7:27; 1 Kgs 11:38; 1 Chr 17:10, 25. Having a family line provided security in ancient Israel.
7 sn The city symbolizes community security, which is the necessary framework for family security.
8 sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).
9 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.
