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Psalm 128

1  Blessed are all those who fear the Lord, ♦︎
   and walk in his ways.
2  You shall eat the fruit of the toil of your hands; ♦︎
   it shall go well with you, and happy shall you be.
3  Your wife within your house
      shall be like a fruitful vine; ♦︎
   your children round your table,
      like fresh olive branches.
4  Thus shall the one be blest ♦︎
   who fears the Lord.
5  The Lord from out of Zion bless you, ♦︎
   that you may see Jerusalem in prosperity
      all the days of your life.
6  May you see your children’s children, ♦︎
   and may there be peace upon Israel.

27Do not boast about tomorrow,
   for you do not know what a day may bring.
² Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—
   a stranger, and not your own lips.
³ A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
   but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
⁴ Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
   but who is able to stand before jealousy?
⁵ Better is open rebuke
   than hidden love.
⁶ Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts,
   but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
⁷ The sated appetite spurns honey,
   but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet.
⁸ Like a bird that strays from its nest
   is one who strays from home.
⁹ Perfume and incense make the heart glad,
   but the soul is torn by trouble.^*
10 Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent;
   do not go to the house of your kindred on the day of your calamity.
Better is a neighbour who is nearby
   than kindred who are far away.
¹¹ Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad,
   so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.
¹² The clever see danger and hide;
   but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
¹³ Take the garment of one who has given surety for a stranger;
   seize the pledge given as surety for foreigners.^*
14 Whoever blesses a neighbour with a loud voice,
   rising early in the morning,
   will be counted as cursing.
¹⁵ A continual dripping on a rainy day
   and a contentious wife are alike;
¹⁶ to restrain her is to restrain the wind
   or to grasp oil in the right hand.^*
17 Iron sharpens iron,
   and one person sharpens the wits^* of another.
¹⁸ Anyone who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
   and anyone who takes care of a master will be honoured.
¹⁹ Just as water reflects the face,
   so one human heart reflects another.
²⁰ Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
   and human eyes are never satisfied.
²¹ The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
   so a person is tested^* by being praised.
²² Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
   along with crushed grain,
   but the folly will not be driven out.

²³ Know well the condition of your flocks,
   and give attention to your herds;
²⁴ for riches do not last for ever,
   nor a crown for all generations.
²⁵ When the grass is gone, and new growth appears,
   and the herbage of the mountains is gathered,
²⁶ the lambs will provide your clothing,
   and the goats the price of a field;
²⁷ there will be enough goats’ milk for your food,
   for the food of your household
   and nourishment for your servant-girls.

⁸Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Warning against Judging Another

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters.^* Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. ¹²There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbour?

Boasting about Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ ¹⁴Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.’ ¹⁶As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.