Psalm 127 verse 2 - Labour now to build the Church

Labourers in the vineyard

The second verse of Psalm 127 takes to one of those key recurrent themes in St Benedict's Rule, namely the value of work.

The Rule famously makes an important place for manual work and work in service of the community.  But while St Benedict generally prescribes work as a remedy against idleness and boredom, it is 'the Work of God', the liturgy that builds up the Church, that takes pride of place in the Rule.

And the reference in the Prologue of the Rule to God calling for workers in his vineyard is surely linked in large part to this, given the connection between the hours at which the Master calls for workers, and the hours of the Office, a connection pointed out by St John Cassian.

The recitation of this verse on weekdays, then, can be seen as a reminder of this key aspect of the Benedictine charism.

2	V	Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.
	NV	Labores manuum tuarum manducabis, beatus es, et bene tibi erit.
	JH	Laborem manuum tuarum cum comederis, beatus tu, et bene tibi erit.
		τοὺς πόνους τῶν καρπῶν σου φάγεσαι μακάριος εἶ καὶ καλῶς σοι ἔσται

  

Labóres (works/labours) mánuum (of the hands) tuárum (your) quia (which/for) manducábis (you will eat): * beátus (blessed) es (you are), et (and) bene (well) tibi (to you) erit (it will be).

  

labor, oris, m.,  work, labor, toil, effort; also the results of one's labor, produce, possessions, etc.

manus, us, /., the hand

manduco, avi, atum, are to eat.

bene, adv.  well; rightly, uprightly.

DR	For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
Brenton	Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee.
MD	Thou shalt enjoy what thy hands earned: blessed art thou, it shall be well with thee!
RSV	You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
Cover	For thou shalt eat the labours of thine hands; O well is thee, and happy shalt thou be.
Knox	Thyself shall eat what thy hands have toiled to win; blessed thou art; all good shall be thine.
Grail	By the labor of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper;

Living from our own work

At the literal level, the second verse of Psalm 127, which speaks of us being blessed by being able to live on the results of our own work, which can apply to all, but has a particular connotation for monastics, for St Benedict speaks early in the Rule of God calling us to be labourers in his vineyard, and later reminds his monks that:

 And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles.

St Robert Bellarmine teaches us that it is appropriate for us to seek what is adequate and necessary, but we should reject riches:

Here we should reflect that the Prophet does not make happi­ness to consist in great riches, but in such as have been acquired by the labor of one's hands, and they are, generally speaking, moderate. Great riches either come by inheritance, or from plunder or usury, or some other bad source. St. Jerome quotes an old saying, and a true one, "The rich man is either a rogue or the heir of a rogue;"...Holy David then addresses not only the Jews, but all Christians, when he makes happiness to consist not in great riches, but in a sufficiency; the having wherewithal to live by one's just labor; and he censures two extremes — one, that of those who live on the others entirely; and the other, that of those who will not touch the labor of their hands, but, in a spirit of avarice, put it aside to increase their riches. 

But what about when we can't earn a living?  

We have to be careful about reading this verse too literally, however: God does not guarantee us properity in this life, as St Robert Bellarmine reminds us:

It may happen, however, that some "who fear God," and "walk in his ways," may not be able to eat of the "labors of their hands," and have to endure hunger and thirst, by reason of their having been despoiled, or defrauded of their labor; but that will not bar the promise made in this passage; for if God sometimes lets his friends down so low that they would be glad to satisfy the cravings of their hunger with the fragments that fall from the table of the rich, as was the case with Lazarus, he will certainly give them some­thing better, far better, instead; and that is joy from tribulation...This is peculiarly applicable to the pil­grims, who "rejoice in the tribulation" of want and difficulties; "for they know tribulation worketh patience, and patience trial, and trial hope, and hope confoundeth not, because the charity of God is poured out into our hearts."

 The promise of the verse, he argues, relates to the hereafter.

 The eternal fruits of our labour

Indeed, our true work in this world is not about earning the necessities of life, but rather the work of of building up the Church.  Cassiodorus for example says:

But by labours he wished to denote good works carried out in this world to yield a sweet banquet as the reward to come; for eating means being refreshed by some food, and rejoicing in its abundance. So these labours which consist of good works are apprehended at the resurrection when these words are heard: Come ye, blessed of my Fa­ther, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. A blessed banquet this, which is not digested by the stomach, but is maintained in eternity unconsumed.

Psalm 127

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

And for the next part in this series, continue on here.

Psalm 127 verse 1 - Walking in the way of Christ

Morgan Library

The first verse of Psalm 127, as I noted in the introductory post, is something of a recapitulation of the key message of St Benedict's ladder of humility, reminding us also that we need both faith and good works. 

1	V	Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.
	NV JH	Beatus omnis, qui timet Dominum, qui ambulat in viis eius.
		μακάριοι πάντες οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον οἱ πορευόμενοι ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ

  

Beáti (Blessed) omnes (all those), qui (who) timent (they fear) Dóminum (the Lord),* qui (who) ámbulant (walk) in viis (the ways) ejus (his).

beatus, a, um  happy, blessed ,fortunate.

omnis, e, all, each, every; subst., all men, all things, everything.

timeo, ui, ere 2 fear, be afraid of

ambulo, avi, atum, are  to walk

via, ae, a way, road, path, street ; fig., God's way; way of life, action, or conduct

DR	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
Brenton	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord; who walk in his ways
MD	Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.
RSV	Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!
Cover	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in his ways.
Knox	Blessed thou art, if thou dost fear the Lord, and follow his paths!
Grail	O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!

Fear of the Lord

The opening phrase takes us back to the first step of humility (St Benedict's Rule chapter 7), fear of the Lord.  The psalm is not, I think, talking just of fear of hell here (though that is sufficient), but rather filial fear based on our acknowledgement that he is God.  Cassiodorus explains it as follows: 

In his first words he has distinguished fear of the Lord from the terror of this world. His words: Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, reveal that those who with troubled mind are apprehensive of the world's dangers in loss of temporal possessions are not blessed. These dangers make men wretched, torturing them with empty fear, so that they experience no growth but a diminution, no ascent but a headlong fall. By contrast, fear of the Lord is the offspring of love, is born of charity, is sprung from sweetness. What devoted fear, consoling the timorous, refreshing the afflicted, experiencing no absence of joy unless the benefit of such fear is laid aside!

Many or one?

The Vulgate puts ‘beatus’ (happy, blessed, fortunate) in the plural, implying many fear the Lord, and follow ‘the way’.  The version from the Hebrew however makes it singular rendering the translation of ‘omnis’ a little more complex.  The RSV preserves the sense quite well with ‘blessed is everyone, but other versions just ignore the ‘all’.  The logic of the latter translation is perhaps to match the next verse, which is in the singular, but St Augustine provides an interpretation that explains the reason for the distinction that is worth considering: 

He speaks to many; but since these many are one in Christ, in the next words he speaks in the singular: For you shall eat the labours of your fruits....When I speak of Christians in the plural, I understand one in the One Christ. You are therefore many, and you are one; we are many, and we are one. How are we many, and yet one? Because we cling unto Him whose members we are; and since our Head is in heaven, that His members may follow....Let us therefore so hear this Psalm, as considering it to be spoken of Christ: and all of us who cling unto the Body of Christ, and have been made members of Christ, walk in the ways of the Lord; and let us fear the Lord with a chaste fear, with a fear that abides forever....

Walking in the way

The second phrase, on walking in’ the way’ (the term the early Christians used to describe our faith) brings us back to the pilgrim theme of this set of psalms.  It is an important reminder that our faith is not true faith if it is not put into practice – even the devil, after all, believes in Christ, hence: 

Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh justice, is acceptable to him. (Matthew 7:21)

 What is required then, Cassiodorus instructs us, is that we love God with all our heart and soul, and keep his commandments with devoted minds.  In fact St Hilary of Poitiers tells us, fear of the Lord and working in his ways is really the same thing: 

For us, fear of the Lord is a part of love; and its expression is the practice of perfect charity: obey the counsels of God, hold fast to his commandments, trust in his promises.

Psalm 127

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

And for the next part in this series go here.

Introduction to Psalm 127

Today  I want to start on the last installment of my series on the Gradual Psalms, by starting to look at Psalm 127, the last psalm of None on weekdays in the Benedictine Office.

But as well as looking at the psalm itself, this also seems like an appropriate point to reflect on three of the reasons why I think St Benedict assigned the first nine of the Gradual psalms to Terce to None.


But first, read and listen to the psalm itself:

Psalm 127: Beati omnes

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Literal and spiritual meanings

Psalm 127 is one of those psalms that it is important to read on several levels.

Taken literally, the psalm is often used at weddings, to point to the temporal blessings we might hope for, as St Aloysius Liguori commented:

The prophet announces to the Jews after their return from Babylon the blessings that they will receive from God if they keep his laws. These blessings are temporal; belong, properly speaking, to the just under the Old Law.

But it can also be interpreted as speaking of the Church as Christ's bride. As Fr Pius Pasch noted in his commentary on the breviary:

At the table of God, we are all his children: Christ is the Father, the Church is the Mother, and we Christians are the children. In the name of the Church we are thankful for all Eucharistic graces, and plead for further favours.

The most important meaning of the psalm, though, is surely eschatological, encouraging us in our spiritual ascent by reminding us that the peace and prosperity we seek is ultimately something that we individually, and the Church collectively, will only fully enjoy in heaven:

In the first limb the prophet recounts by certain allusions the blessings of those who fear God, so as to fire the spirits of the committed with the warmth of heaven's reward. In the second, he blesses them that they may gain eternal joys, so that none may be apprehensive of this sweetest of fears…We identify in this psalm the promises made to those who fear God, the rewards obtained by the person who with pure mind feels awe for the Lord. (Cassiodorus)

I will look at these three levels of the psalm in more detail as we go through the individual verses, but before we do that I think it is worthwhile seeing how this psalm fits into the set.

Christ's death on the cross

In the previous parts of this series I have argued that each of the first nine of the Gradual Psalms can be interpreted christologically to align with the traditional associations of the hours, hence St Benedict's decision to assign them to these hours. The first, Psalm 119, for example, can be read as referring to Christ's trial before Herod and Pilate on Good Friday.

None (the ninth hour) is traditionally associated with the death of Christ on the cross, and I think this psalm can perhaps be viewed as interpreting the blessings spoken of in the psalms as the grace that flows from the wounds in Christ's side. Indeed, the liturgy explicitly points us to this interpretation, using verse 4 of it as an antiphon at Vespers on the feast of Corpus Christ, and the whole psalm in Vespers of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a reminder that Christ's death on the cross reopens the way to heaven.

The ladder of humility and fear of the Lord

The second key theme running through the Gradual Psalms that I think St Benedict is pointing us to is the link between the Gradual Psalms and the ladder of humility in Chapter 7 of the Rule.

The Gradual Psalms, you will recall, are traditionally associated with the fifteen steps from the lower to inner courtyard of Solomon's temple, and thus signify the ascent from earth to heaven (of which the temple is a microcosm), as Cassiodorus, for example, points out:

But I think that I should advise you that through the bounty of divine grace, fifteen steps are laid in these psalms to denote in various ways the saints' merits, just as there was the same number in the temple at Jerusalem, which we know was completed by Solomon. This was so that the present order of the psalms, prefigured in that building, should be seen to be foretold, for that earthly construction seemed to bear the likeness of the heavenly temple. (On Psalm 119)

As St Bede noted, though, St Benedict's take on this ascent of virtue is rather more specific:

Benedict, a father very reverend both in his name and in his life, realized that these steps especially consist in humility when, interpreting our journey to celestial things to be designated by the ladder shown to the Patriarch Jacob, by which angels ascended and descended, he distinguished in a very careful and pious examination the steps of the ladder itself as the increments and stages of good works that are performed through humility...(On Ezra and Nehemiah, trans deGregorio, pp171-2)

The key explicit link St Benedict makes in the Rule is to the twelfth psalm of the set (and not coincidentally, he has twelve steps in his ladder of humility). But the soul's progress from the first psalm of the set to this ninth can reasonably be interpreted, I think, as the progress within the first of the degrees, from servile fear, that is fear of punishment and hell, to filial fear, born of love.  The Prologue to the Rule, after all, tells us to 'hear what the Spirit says to the Churches, namely that 'I will teach you the fear of the Lord' (Ps 33).

Intriguingly, St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus makes exactly this contrast between the first of this group of psalms and this one:

But since we read: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we must investigate why the prophet has decided that we must keep it in mind at this stage.

There are two fears which prick our hearts. The first is human fear, by which we are apprehensive of suffering physical hazards or losing worldly goods; this is clearly a temporary state, since we fear such things only as long as we dwell in the life of this world. But divine fear always mounts with us through all the advances which we make in this life.

Whereas we abandon worldly fear together with the world on the first step, divine fear remains ever with us, and is adapted as a most faithful companion throughout our ascent. As has already been said in Psalm 118: Pierce thou my flesh with thy fear, for I am afraid of thy judgments. So it is fitting that both on this step [Psalm 127] and everywhere we be instructed that fear of the Lord should be within us, for it is approved as our essential guardian.

Seek after peace and pursue it

The third key theme of this group of psalms that I want to highlight is the pursuit of peace. St Benedict, you will recall, instructs us using the words of Psalm 33 in the Prologue to the Rule, to 'seek after peace and pursue it', hence the motto of the Benedictine Order, PAX.

Accordingly, it seems to me that the choice of this set of nine psalms, where Psalms 121, 124 and 127 (ie the last psalm on Terce, Sext and None each day) each refer to the blessing of peace, is probably not a coincidence!

The search for peace is one of the key things that motivates the psalmist to start his journey, in Psalm 119:

6  Cum his, qui odérunt pacem, eram pacíficus: * cum loquébar illis, impugnábant me gratis.

7 With them that hated peace I was peaceable: when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause.

In Psalm 121, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and look forward to it, even though we have not yet achieved it:

6  Rogáte quæ ad pacem sunt Jerúsalem: * et abundántia diligéntibus te:	6 Pray for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love you.
7  Fiat pax in virtúte tua: * et abundántia in túrribus tuis.	7 Let peace be in your strength: and abundance in your towers
8  Propter fratres meos, et próximos meos, * loquébar pacem de te:	8 For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of you.
9  Propter domum Dómini, Dei nostri, * quæsívi bona tibi.	9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for you.

In Psalm 124, the last psalm of Sext, we are urged to persevere with the promise of reward:

4  Bénefac, Dómine, bonis, * et rectis corde.	4 Do good, O Lord, to those that are good, and to the upright of heart.
5  Declinántes autem in obligatiónes addúcet Dóminus cum operántibus iniquitátem: * pax super Israël.	5 But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord shall lead out with the workers of iniquity: peace upon Israel.

And now again in Psalm 127:

6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.

In the next post I will look at verse 1 of Psalm 127 in more detail.

Work as if everything depends on you...: Psalm 126 - v2

Stones from the Western Wall of Jerusalem
thrown down by Roman soldiers in 70 CE

Continuing on this verse by verse look at Psalm 126, today a look at verse 2:

2	V/NV/JH	Nisi Dóminus custodíerit civitátem, * frustra vígilat qui custódit eam.
		ἐὰν μὴ κύριος φυλάξῃ πόλιν εἰς μάτην ἠγρύπνησεν ὁ φυλάσσων

Nisi (unless) Dóminus (the Lord) custodíerit (he will keep) civitátem (the city), * frustra (vainly) vígilat (he keeps watch) qui (who) custódit (he watches) eam (it).

custodio, ivi or li, itum, ire to guard, watch, keep;to maintain, to hold steadfastly.

civitas, atis,  a city, state, commonwealth; the inhabitants of the city

frustra, adv.  in vain, vainly, to no purpose, uselessly.

vigilo, avi, atum, are  to be awake, keep watch, watch; to watch for, seek, long for. 

DR	Unless the Lord keep the city, he watches in vain that keeps it.
Brenton	Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watches in vain.
MD	Unless the Lord guard the city, he watcheth in vain that guardeth it.
RSV	Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
Cover	Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
Knox	Vainly the guard keeps watch, if the city has not the Lord for its guardian.
Grail	If the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil.

The city of God 

The previous verse talked about the house of God; this one talks about a city, why?  St Augustine tells us that the words mean the same thing:

But that which is the house of God is also a city. For the house of God is the people of God; for the house of God is the temple of God....This is Jerusalem: she has guards: as she has builders, labouring at her building up, so also has she guards...

The obvious allusion in terms of the literal interpretation of the verse is to the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the return from exile, since as Ezra describes, half the men worked while the other half guarded the walls against neighbouring marauders intent on preventing the rebuilding effort, as St Robert Bellarmine points out:

When the city was being built after the captivity, they had to build it and guard it at the same time, as we read in 2 Esdras. The nations round about them not only sought to prevent them from building, but they demolished everything that was built if they could; and thus the children of Israel had to proceed with the sword in one hand, and the tools in the other, and many had to stand guard continually. Yet all this guarding would have been of no avail, had not the Lord chosen to guard the city. 

The destruction of Jerusalem

The verse can also, though, in the context of the Crucifixion, perhaps be taken as a a reference to the coming destruction of Jerusalem some forty years after the death of Christ, and prophesised by him in:

And when he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it, saying: If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee: and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, And beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation (Luke 19:41-44).

The key point though, is that while we have to work hard, labouring and guarding against the enemy as if everything depends on us, in reality our efforts will be useless without God's aid:

Why mention erection of walls and building of the city? It would also have been impossible for anyone to guard it when brought to completion had that assistance not been available. Now, he said this to persuade them by every means to have recourse again to God's grace lest they become more indifferent owing to the respite. The reason, you see, why he gave them the good things not all at once but slowly and gradually was to prevent their running back to their former wickedness because of their rapid release from troubles; instead, even in the very giving of the good things he constantly reminded them by the onset of their enemies to be ever stirring up their indifference. So the words are of general application, while taking their origin in this occasion: it is necessary to bring them to bear on everyone's situation lest we ourselves become indifferent and supine instead of contributing what is in our power, entrusting everything to God, and completely depending in everything on hope in him. I mean, as it is not possible to bring affairs to completion without his help, likewise if God helps but we are idle and inactive, it is impossible for us to reach the goal. (St John Chrysostom)

The watchmen

Many of the Fathers interpret the role of watchman as especially applying, after Christ, to bishops.  Cassiodorus, for example, says:

We interpret the Lord's city as the heavenly Jerusalem, a part of which still lodges on earth. In it the bishops strive to keep watch, to protect with unsleeping care the flock entrusted to them. The same injunction is given them not to be fired by harmful thoughts, and imagine that human precautions have any dominant effect, for only the Godhead can ward off dangers of attack. 

St Robert Bellarmine though also applies the message to the individual Christian:

The same is very apt to occur to ourselves, when we, through good works, begin to build up a house, for enemies will not be wanting to seek to destroy the work so begun, by various temptations; and, hence, the apostle arms us when he says, "Wherefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day;" and a little further on, "In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one." But unless God be with us, to guard us who slumber so often, and fight for us, all our labor will be in vain.

Psalm 126: Nisi Dominus 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum Salomonis.	A gradual canticle of Solomon.
1.  Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum:*  in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam.	Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
2.  Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem:* frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.	Unless the Lord keep the city, he watches in vain that keeps it.
3.  Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere:* surgite, postquam sederitis, qui manducatis panem doloris.	2 It is vain for you to rise before light, rise after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow.
4.  Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum:* ecce hereditas Domini, filii merces, fructus ventris.	When he shall give sleep to his beloved, 3 behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb.
5.  Sicut sagittae in manu potentis:* ita filii excussorum.	4 As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.
6.  Beatus vir, qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis:* non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta.	5 Blessed is the man that has filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate

And continue to the next post in this series, notes on verse 3 of Psalm 126.

Rebuilding the Church with God's aid: Psalm 126 - v1

Translating the verse

First, focus in the text of the verse.

1	V/JH	Nisi dominus aedificaverit domum:* in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam.
	NV	Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laborant, qui aedificant eam.
		ἐὰν μὴ κύριος οἰκοδομήσῃ οἶκον εἰς μάτην ἐκοπίασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες αὐτόν

Nisi (unless) dominus (the Lord) aedificaverit (he will build)  domum (the house):* in vanum (vain) laboraverunt (they have laboured) qui (who) aedificant (they build) eam (it).

nisi, conj. (ne and si), if not, unless.

aedifico, avi, atum, are  to build.

domus, us, /.  house, structure.

vanus, a, um vain, idle, profitless, deceptive, null, empty as to purpose or result.  

laboro, avi, atum, are to toil, labor.

Douay-Rheims	Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
Brenton	Except the Lord build the house, they that build labour in vain
Diurnal	Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
RSV	Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Coverdale	Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it.
Knox	Vain is the builder’s toil, if the house is not of the Lord’s building
Grail	If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor;

The literal sense of the verse is, toil is useless without God’s help, a sentiment echoed in John 15:5:

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

It can be interpreted, though as applying at both the individual and collective levels.

God's guidance of history

St John Chrysostom, for example, interprets it as referring to God's providential guidance of history in relation to the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Exile (as described in Ezra and Nehemiah):

This psalm has to do with the state of affairs after the return. You see, when they were freed from captivity and had returned from the savage country, the city they took possession of was in ruins, and they endeavored to rebuild the walls knocked down along with the towers. But many attacked them from many quarters and hindered the work, envying the prosperity of the Jews and fearful of their success. Then time was spent on doing these things, and so much time that over forty years was devoted to the construction of the Temple, as the Jews also indicated in saying, "The building of this Temple took forty-six years," referring not to the former build­ing of Solomon but to this later one, after the freedom from the Persians. Since, then, much time was spent in building Temple, city and walls (the building of the city, in fact, took much longer), the inspired author wanted to teach them once more to have re­course to God, and so went through all this in detail to show that everything happened without any other rhyme or reason than winning grace from God. That is to say, not only freedom from captivity but also erection of the walls by the recently released was impossible without the grace of God.

If we read the psalm Christologically, though, in the context of the crucifixion, this psalm reminds us that Christ's death was necessary in order to build the Church, which is no longer a physical entity like the Temple of old, but rather the body of Christ, which can never be destroyed: though it be destroyed in a particular time and place, it can be rebuilt through Christ.  Indeed, the Church is always in this constant process of rebuilding.

The work of sanctification

This is not something that can be done apart from Christ though. St Augustine, for example, sees the verse as a reference to the Churches ongoing work of sanctification:

The Lord, therefore, builds the house, the Lord Jesus Christ builds His own house. Many toil in building: but, except He build, their labour is but lost that build it. Who are they who toil in building it? All who preach the word of God in the Church, the ministers of God's mysteries. We are all running, we are all toiling, we are all building now; and before us others have run, toiled, and built: but except the Lord build, their labour is but lost...We, therefore, speak without, He builds within. We can observe with what attention ye hear us; He alone who knows your thoughts, knows what ye think. He Himself builds, He Himself admonishes, He Himself opens the understanding, He Himself kindles your understanding unto faith; nevertheless, we also toil like workmen; but, except the Lord build...

St Hilary of Poitiers sees the verse as directed at us each individually:

 This, then, is the temple of God, filled with his doctrine and his power, able to provide the Lord with room in the sanctuary of the heart. It was of this that the prophet spoke in the psalm: Holy is your temple, made marvellous by his justice. Holiness, justice and righteous­ness are a temple for God, and God ought then to build his house. If it were built by the hands of men, it would not stand; strengthened only by worldly knowledge, it would not hold firm; supported only by our ineffective watchfulness and useless works, it would not be secure. This house must be built and guarded in a very different way: it should not be founded on the earth or on shifting sands, but estab­lished on its proper base, the prophets and the apostles. This house should be built with living stones; with Christ to hold it together as the corner stone, it should grow by the ties that bind all the elements that go to make it up, until it becomes the perfect man and is made perfect as the body of Christ; it should be decorated with the jewels of spiritual graces and shine forth with his beauty" (Tractatus super Psalmos, 126,7-8).

Origen makes the point that our dependence on God does not mean that we are excused from hard work ourselves:

By which words he does not indeed indicate that we should cease from building or watching over the safe keeping of that city which is within us; but what he points out is this, that whatever is built without God, and whatever is guarded without him, is built in vain, and guarded to no purpose.  For in all things that are well built and well protected, the Lord is held to be the cause either of the building or of its protection. 

 ...Of God in Christ Jesus, unless this very good will of ours, and ready purpose, and whatever that diligence within us may be, be aided or furnished with divine help.  And therefore most logically did the apostle say, that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy;” in the same manner as if we were to say of agriculture what is actually written:  “I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.  So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” First Principles

Psalm 126: Nisi Dominus 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum Salomonis.	A gradual canticle of Solomon.
1.  Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum:*  in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam.	Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
2.  Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem:* frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.	Unless the Lord keep the city, he watches in vain that keeps it.
3.  Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere:* surgite, postquam sederitis, qui manducatis panem doloris.	2 It is vain for you to rise before light, rise after you have sitten, you that eat the bread of sorrow.
4.  Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum:* ecce hereditas Domini, filii merces, fructus ventris.	When he shall give sleep to his beloved, 3 behold the inheritance of the Lord are children: the reward, the fruit of the womb.
5.  Sicut sagittae in manu potentis:* ita filii excussorum.	4 As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been shaken.
6.  Beatus vir, qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis:* non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta.	5 Blessed is the man that has filled the desire with them; he shall not be confounded when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate

And for the next part on this series, click on the link for notes on verse 2