Bible Strands
Psalms 128:2
For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A Song of Ascents, sung by pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem, addressing the individual who fears the LORD and walks in His ways (v. 1).
The words — יְגִיעַ (yĕgîaʿ) means "the product of toil," a noun that carries the sense of physical exertion rather than passive receipt. The blessing is anchored in what the hands have produced.
The thread — Isaiah 3:10 repeats the formula: the righteous "will enjoy the fruit of their labor." Isaiah 65:21 and 62:8 extend the image to eschatological restoration — building houses, planting vineyards, eating the fruit.
Why it lands — The verse ties blessing to labor: prosperity is not a static gift but the fruit of one's own work. The reader is asked to see that the condition (v. 1) is not mere piety but a life that produces.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 3:10 Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Isaiah 62:8 The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.
- Isaiah 65:21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.
- Deuteronomy 28:4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
- Deuteronomy 28:11 The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
- Ecclesiastes 8:12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
- Ephesians 6:3 “that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.”
- Isaiah 65:13 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.