(A song of ascents. Of Solomon.)

Vain is the builder’s toil, if the house is not of the Lord’s building; vainly the guard keeps watch, if the city has not the Lord for its guardian.

Vain, that you should be astir before daybreak, and sit on over your tasks late into the night, you whose bread is so hardly won; is it not in the hours of sleep that he blesses the men he loves?✻

Fatherhood itself is the Lord’s gift, the fruitful womb is a reward that comes from him.

Crown of thy youth, children are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.

Happy, whose quiver is well filled with these; their cause will not be set aside when they plead against their enemies at the gate.