Every Good Thing Comes From God
Psalm 127
An EasyEnglish Translation with Notes (about 1200 word vocabulary) on Psalm 127
Words in boxes are from the Bible. Words in brackets, ( ), are not in the *Hebrew Bible.
The notes explain some of the words with a *star by them. A word list at the end explains all the words that have a *star by them.
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Jesus said, "Your Father in *heaven makes his sun to rise on good and bad people" (Matthew 5:25). (Heaven is God’s home.)
(This is) a psalm for climbing by Solomon.
v1 If the *LORD does
not build the house, the workers cannot do anything.
There are men who watch (for danger).
But if the *LORD does not *guard the city, they will
be *useless.
v2 If you work all
day for food, from early morning to late at night, you will get nothing.
It is God who gives sleep. He gives it to the people
that he loves.
v3 Children are
something that God gives.
The fruit of your body is a gift (from him).
v4 The sons of a young man are like *arrows in the hand of a soldier.
v5 The man with many
of them will be very happy.
He will not be ashamed when he meets his enemies in
the city gates.
Psalm 127 tells people to remember that it was God who saved their city from enemies. God had given them everything that was valuable to them: *safety, houses, food, children and *peace. It was God who let them work hard to build houses. It was God who let them do the other things in the psalm.
Verse 1: "*LORD" is a special word for God. It is his *covenant name. A *covenant is when people agree to do something. God agreed to send help to his people. His people agreed to love and obey God. This verse means that, although men work to build a house, God lets them do it. "*Guard" means "make safe". Perhaps "the house" here is the house of God in Jerusalem; and perhaps "the city" is Jerusalem. The psalm is "a psalm for climbing by Solomon". Perhaps Solomon wrote it when he built the *temple (God’s house) in Jerusalem. People went to pray to God in the *temple.
Verse 2: The beginning of the verse means "you will get nothing if God does not make it grow". "Sleep" here means "sleep and be safe".
Verses 4 - 5: An arrow is a sharp stick that a bow can shoot. A soldier with many arrows is happy; so is a man with many children. They will give him help to fight his enemies.
1. Read about when Solomon built the *temple in 1 Kings 6.
2. Pray that God will *guard you and the people that you love.
arrow ~ a sharp stick that a bow can shoot.
covenant ~ when people agree to do something.
guard ~ make safe.
heaven ~ the home of God.
Hebrew ~ the language that the Jews spoke; they wrote the Psalms in Hebrew.
LORD ~ the *covenant name of God.
peace ~ when there is no war and everybody is happy.
safety ~ when we are in a safe place.
temple ~ a special house; the temple in Jerusalem was God’s house there.
© 1997-2004, Wycliffe Associates (UK)
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).
January 2004
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