It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil; for he gives sleep to his loved ones.
Parallel translations
- KJV It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
- BSB In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.
- NKJV It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.
- NASB It is futile for you to rise up early, To stay up late, To eat the bread of painful labor; This is how He gives to His beloved sleep.
- NLT It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Anxious overwork is vain, for God provides for His beloved even as they sleep. It frees believers from frantic striving into restful trust.
Overview
The psalm warns against the anxious toil of rising early and staying up late in worry, since God grants provision and even rest to those He loves. Restful sleep becomes a sign of trusting God's care rather than one's own labor. In Christ we find true rest, ceasing from striving to earn what God freely gives.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Eccl 5:12The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
- Ps 4:8In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.
- Job 11:18You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
- Ps 3:5I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me.
- Jer 31:26On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.
- Eccl 2:20–23Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.
- Ezek 34:25I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Prov 31:15–18She rises also while it is yet night, gives food to her household, and portions for her servant girls.
- Eccl 6:7All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
- Ps 39:5–6Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
- Eccl 4:8There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor, and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.
- Eccl 2:1–11I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure”; and behold, this also was vanity.
- Ps 60:5So that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand, and answer us.
- Acts 12:5–6Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.
- Gen 3:17–19To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 127:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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