Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (cf. 5)

“Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways.” (Psalm 128:1)

With its interest in the family blessed by Yahweh and in eating “the fruit of your labor,” this psalm has obvious connections with the preceding one. Verses 1–4 sound wonderful; their claims are lofty (“blessings and prosperity will be yours”) and universal (for “all who fear the LORD”). But for many believers they may not ring true to life. How can the Bible make such claims, we wonder, when genuine believers endure cancer, desertion, and worse within their families? In this psalm, the claims are qualified immediately by the rest of the passage, which consists of a prayer or invocation that these ideals become reality: “May the LORD bless you” (v. 5), just as he “who fears the LORD” is described as blessed (v. 4) in the preceding verses. In other words, the opening statements are not automatic for Yahweh’s believers. As explained further below, there are several contingencies for the opening promises.

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