happiness · noun, common masculine plural construct
feareth
יְרֵ֣אye.Re'
H3373
fearing · adjective, masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
walketh
הַ֝הֹלֵ֗ךְha.ho.Lekh
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
ways
בִּדְרָכָֽיוbid.ra.Khav
H1870
a road (as trodden) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 112:1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
Psalms 119:1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
Psalms 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Luke 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornf…
Psalms 147:11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Acts 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the c…
Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 128:1–end
It is here shown that godliness has the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
I. It is here again and again laid down as an undoubted truth that those who are truly holy are truly happy. Those whose blessed state we are here assured of are such as fear the Lord and walk in his ways, such as have a deep reverence of God upon their spirits and evidence it by a regular and constant conformity to his will. Where the fear of God is a commanding principle in the heart the tenour of the conversation will be accordingly; and in vain do we pretend to be of those that fear God if we do not make conscience both of keeping to his ways and not trifling in them or drawing back. Suc…
Blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord,.... Be he who he will; of whatsoever nation, Jew or Gentile; of whatsoever sex, age, or condition, high or low, rich or poor, Acts 10:35; such an one is blessed now, and will be hereafter; See Gill on Psalm 112:1;
that walketh in his ways: which God has prescribed and directed his people to walk in, his ordinances and commands; which, to walk in, is both pleasant and profitable: it supposes life, requires strength and wisdom; and is expressive of progression, or going on and continuance in them: and where the true fear of God is, which includes every grace, and the whole of religious worship, there will be a conscientious regard to the ways of God:…
Psalm 128:1-3
1. Blessed is the man who feareth Jehovah, and walketh in his ways. 2. For when thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands, thou shalt be blessed, and it shall be well with thee. 3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house, and thy children as olive plants around thy table. [105]
1 Blessed is the man who feareth Jehovah. In the preceding Psalm it was stated that prosperity in all human affairs, and in the whole course of our life, is to be hoped for exclusively from the grace of God; and now the Prophet admonishes us that those who desire to be partakers of the blessing of God must with sincerity of heart devote themselves wholly to him; for he will never dis…
The Church Fathers
"Blessed are all who fear the Lord." The inspired word declared blessed not the one from Abraham's stock or from Israel's seed but the person adorned with the fear of God. Blessed Peter also says this in the book of Acts: "In truth I grasp the fact that God shows no partiality, but in every nation the person fearing him and performing righteousness is acceptable to him." The inspired word also gave a glimpse of the character of the fear of God, adding "those walking in his ways": 2 "Not everyone saying to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in heaven." So it is typical of those fearing the Lord not to stray from the ways of God but to travel in them without fail.
When he says, "Blessed are all who fear the Lord," he shows that they are not blessed who fear with troubled mind the dangers of the world when temporal property is lost. For those dangers make people wretched when they torment them with groundless fear. They have no advantage, but rather a dimunition. They do not know an ascent, but rather destruction. In contrast, the fear of the Lord descends from love, is born of charity and is begotten of sweetness. A pious fear comforts the fearful and refreshes the afflicted, and does not know how to lack joy unless such fruit of fear has been put aside. About this fear it is written, "Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." How advantageous fear is, if children are taught by it! What sort of learning there is which is given with sweet affection!
"Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in His ways" [Psalm 128:1]. He speaketh to many; but since these many are one in Christ, in the next words he speaketh in the singular: "For thou shall eat the labours of thy fruits."...When I speak of Christians in the plural, I understand one in the One Christ. Ye are therefore many, and ye are one; we are many, and we are one. How are we many, and yet one? Because we cling unto Him whose members we are; and since our Head is in heaven, that His members may follow....Let us therefore so hear this Psalm, as considering it to be spoken of Christ: and all of us who cling unto the Body of Christ, and have been made members of Christ, walk in the ways of the Lord; and let us fear the Lord with a chaste fear, with a fear that abideth for ever....
Dictionary and topics
Blessed, The · Who fear God — Who fear God
Children · Prosperity of, greatly depended on obedience of parents — Prosperity of, greatly depended on obedience of parents
Happiness · OF THE RIGHTEOUS — OF THE RIGHTEOUS
Happiness Of Saints In This Life · Is derived from: Fear of God — Is derived from: Fear of God
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The כּי in Psa 128:2 signifies neither "for" (Aquila, κόπον τῶν ταρσῶν σου ὅτι φάγεσαι), nor "when" (Symmachus, κόπον χειρῶν σου ἐωθίων); it is the directly affirmative כּי, which is sometimes thus placed after other words in a clause (Psa 118:10-12, Gen 18:20; Gen 41:32). The proof in favour of this asseverating כּי is the very usual כּי עתּה in the apodoses of hypothetical protases, or even כּי־אז in Job 11:15, or also only כּי in Isa 7:9, Sa1 14:39; "surely then;" the transition from the confirmative to the affirmative signification is evident from Psa 128:4 of the Psalm before us. To support one's self by one's own labour is a duty which even a Paul did not wish to avoid (Act 2…
Ps 128 The godly, who fear the Lord, will know true happiness (128:1-2). The Lord is with them (see 127:1-2), building their home life (128:3-4) and blessing them across the generations (128:5-6).
128:1-2 Enjoying the fruit of one’s labor means gaining benefit from whatever work one does.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 128:1
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord. The last Psalm ended with a blessing, —for the word there translated "happy" is the same as that which is here rendered "blessed": thus the two songs are joined by a catch word. There is also in them a close community of subject. The fear of God is the corner stone of all blessedness. We must reverence the ever blessed God before we can be blessed ourselves. Some think that this life is an evil, an infliction, a thing upon which rests a curse; but it is not so; the God fearing man has a present blessing resting upon him. It is not true that it would be to him" something better n…
