Psalms 128:2

2 When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

Psalms 128:2 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 128:2

For thou shall eat the labour of thine hands
That is, thou that fearest the Lord, and walkest in his ways. It is an apostrophe, or address to such, even to everyone of them; instancing in one part of the blessedness that belongs to them, enjoyment of what their hands have laboured for; which may be understood both in a literal and spiritual sense: man must labour and get his bread with the sweat of his brow; he that will not work should not eat, he that does should; and a good man may have a comfortable enjoyment of the good of his labour; than which, as to temporal blessings, there is nothing better under the sun, ( Ecclesiastes 5:18 ) ; and, in a spiritual sense, good men labour in prayers at the throne of grace, there lifting up holy hands to God, wrestling with him for a blessing, which they enjoy; they labour in attendance on the word and ordinances, for the meat which endures to everlasting life; and they find the word and eat it, and Christ in it, whose flesh is meat indeed; and feed by faith on it, to the joy and comfort of their souls;

happy [shall] thou [be], and [it shall be] well with thee;
or, to thy soul, as the Syriac version; happy as to temporal things, and well as to spiritual ones: such having an apparent special interest in the love, grace, mercy, and delight of God; in his providence, protection, and care; in the supplies of his grace, and in his provisions for his people, in time and eternity. It is well with such that felt God, in life and at death, at judgment and for ever: and the Targum is,

``thou art blessed in this world, and it shall be well with thee in the world to come;''

and so Arama.

Psalms 128:2 In-Context

1 A Song of Ascents. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways.

2 When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.

4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life.