Psalms 127:3
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
See, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
American King James Version (AKJV)
See, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah; And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
See, sons are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the body is his reward.
Webster's Revision
Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
World English Bible
Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Definitions for Psalms 127:3
Clarke's Psalms 127:3 Bible Commentary
Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord - That is, To many God gives children in place of temporal good. To many others he gives houses, lands, and thousands of gold and silver, and with them the womb that beareth not; and these are their inheritance. The poor man has from God a number of children, without lands or money; these are his inheritance; and God shows himself their father, feeding and supporting them by a chain of miraculous providences. Where is the poor man who would give up his six children, with the prospect of having more, for the thousands or millions of him who is the center of his own existence, and has neither root nor branch but his forlorn solitary self upon the face of the earth? Let the fruitful family, however poor, lay this to heart; "Children are a heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is his reward." And he who gave them will feed them; for it is a fact, and the maxim formed on it has never failed, "Wherever God sends mouths, he sends meat." "Murmur not," said an Arab to his friend, "because thy family is large; know that it is for their sakes that God feeds thee."
Barnes's Psalms 127:3 Bible Commentary
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord - They are an inheritance derived from the Lord. They are bestowed by him as really as success is in building a house, or in guarding a city. The idea is, that everything which we value, or which we desire, is a gift from God, and is to be received as from him, and to be acknowledged as his gift. The general idea here, as in the previous verses, is that of entire dependence on God.
And the fruit of the womb is his reward - Or rather, "a reward;" that is, they are of the nature of a reward for a life of devotion to God; they are among the blessings which God promises, and are evidences of his favor. Our translation by inserting the words "is his" obscures the sense, as if the meaning were that they belong to God as his "reward" for what he does for us. The reverse of this is the true idea - that they are a blessing with which he rewards or favors his people. Of course, this is not universally true, but the promise is a general one, in accordance with the usual promises in the Bible in regard to the result of piety. Children are to be reckoned among the divine favors bestowed on us, and for their lives, their health, their virtues, and the happiness derived from them, we are, as in other things, dependent on him - as in building a house, in guarding a city, or in the rest and comfort derived from toil.
Wesley's Psalms 127:3 Bible Commentary
127:3 Children — The chief of these blessings.
Heritage — Only from God's blessing, even as an inheritance is not the fruit of a man's own labour, but the gift of God.