1
Unless Jehovah builds the house,
Those who build it labor in vain.
Unless Jehovah keeps the city,
The guard watches in vain.
Those who build it labor in vain.
Unless Jehovah keeps the city,
The guard watches in vain.
2
It is vain for you to raise up early,
To stay up late, to eat the bread of toil;
All the same, He gives to His beloved
While they sleep, while they sleep.
To stay up late, to eat the bread of toil;
All the same, He gives to His beloved
While they sleep, while they sleep.
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Church In DC, United States
Praise the Lord for the footnotes:
“Psalm 127 is the praise of the saints, in their going up to Zion, concerning Jehovah’s care for and blessing to His people.
Unless the Lord builds the church as God’s house (Matt. 16:18), those who build it (1 Cor. 3:10-12; Eph. 4:11-12, 16) labor in vain. Unless the Lord keeps the city, i. e. , keeps the church as the kingdom (Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17), those who guard the church (Acts 20:28-31) watch in vain.
If the Lord does not do anything for us, whatever we do will be in vain. We need to labor in the Lord and by His grace (1 Cor. 15:10, 58; Col. 1:28-29), but what the result will be depends not on our labor but on God’s care and blessing. Instead of toiling and striving in ourselves, we need to trust in Him and rest in Him, for He gives to His beloved even while they sleep.
Instead of striving without trusting in the Lord, we should simply be a good father producing children. We cannot gain much by our toil, but we can produce spiritual children (cf. 1 Cor. 4:15). In addition to His caring for us, God blesses us with increase, with children. Increase does not depend on what we do; it depends on how much God gives. Both the care and the blessing come from Him. ”