Why read Psalm 127?
Read Psalm 127 to pray for family peace and give thanks for the fruit of your work. Its images of a shared table and successive generations describe life shaped by reverence for God.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
The full text of Psalm 127 (6 verses), from the 18th Kathisma of the Psalter. Its opening words — «Blessed are all who fear...» — are also the psalm’s traditional “name”: our grandmothers did not say “psalm 127”, but called it by its first words.
The text of Psalm 127
1. Blessed are all who fear the Lord and walk in His ways.
2. You will eat the fruit of the work of your hands. Blessed are you; it will be well with you!
3. Your wife is like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons like young olive shoots around your table.
4. Behold, thus will the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
5. The Lord will bless you from Zion, and you will see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
6. And you will see your sons’ sons. Peace upon Israel!
When Psalm 127 is read
- It belongs to the 18th Kathisma and may be read daily alongside the prayer rule (see the morning and evening prayers).
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
