Psalm 128:3
New International Version
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

New Living Translation
Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine, flourishing within your home. Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees as they sit around your table.

English Standard Version
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Berean Standard Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.

King James Bible
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

New King James Version
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.

New American Standard Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine Within your house, Your children like olive plants Around your table.

NASB 1995
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within your house, Your children like olive plants Around your table.

NASB 1977
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, Within your house, Your children like olive plants Around your table.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the innermost parts of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table.

Amplified Bible
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within the innermost part of your house; Your children will be like olive plants Around your table.

Christian Standard Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children, like young olive trees around your table.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your sons, like young olive trees around your table.

American Standard Version
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, In the innermost parts of thy house; Thy children like olive plants, Round about thy table.

Contemporary English Version
Your wife will be as fruitful as a grapevine, and just as an olive tree is rich with olives, your home will be rich with healthy children.

English Revised Version
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, in the innermost parts of thine house: thy children like olive plants, round about thy table.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine inside your home. Your children will be like young olive trees around your table.

Good News Translation
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in your home, and your children will be like young olive trees around your table.

International Standard Version
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children like olive shoots surrounding your table.

Majority Standard Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.

NET Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house; your children will be like olive branches, as they sit all around your table.

New Heart English Bible
Your wife will be as a fruitful vine, in the innermost parts of your house; your children like olive plants, around your table.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thy house: thy children like olive plants around thy table.

World English Bible
Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive shoots around your table.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Your wife [is] as a fruitful vine in the sides of your house, "" Your sons as olive plants around your table.

Young's Literal Translation
Thy wife is as a fruitful vine in the sides of thy house, Thy sons as olive plants around thy table.

Smith's Literal Translation
Thy wife as a vine bearing fruit in the sides of thy house: thy sons as plants of olives round about thy table.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of thy house. Thy children as olive plants, round about thy table.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Your wife is like an abundant vine on the sides of your house. Your sons are like young olive trees surrounding your table.

New American Bible
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your home, Your children like young olive plants around your table.

New Revised Standard Version
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house; your children like olive plants round about your table.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Your wife is like a glorious vine on the outside of your house, your children like plants of olive trees around your table!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, in the innermost parts of thy house; Thy children like olive plants, round about thy table.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house: thy children as young olive-plants round about thy table.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Blessed Are All who Walk in His Ways
2For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours. 3Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table. 4In this way indeed shall blessing come to the man who fears the LORD.…

Cross References
Proverbs 31:28
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband praises her as well:

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”

Genesis 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 17:6
I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.

Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”

Genesis 49:25
by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

Exodus 23:26
No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

Deuteronomy 28:4
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Deuteronomy 28:11
The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

1 Samuel 2:20
And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.

1 Kings 4:25
Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

Isaiah 44:3
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.

Jeremiah 29:6
Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease.


Treasury of Scripture

Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of your house: your children like olive plants round about your table.

a fruitful vine

Genesis 49:22
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Proverbs 5:15-18
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well…

Ezekiel 19:10
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

olive plants

Psalm 52:8
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

Psalm 144:12
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:

Jeremiah 11:16
The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.

round about

Psalm 127:5
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

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Children Fertile Fruitful House Inner Innermost Olive Part Parts Plants Round Shoots Sides Table Vine Wife Within
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Children Fertile Fruitful House Inner Innermost Olive Part Parts Plants Round Shoots Sides Table Vine Wife Within
Psalm 128
1. The various blessings which follow those who fear God














Your wife
In the Hebrew text, the word for "wife" is "אִשְׁתְּךָ" (ishtekha), which denotes a woman who is married. In the context of ancient Israel, marriage was a covenantal relationship, reflecting the covenant between God and His people. The wife is seen as a partner and a blessing, emphasizing the importance of family and the role of the wife in the household. This reflects the biblical view of marriage as a sacred institution ordained by God.

will be like a fruitful vine
The imagery of a "fruitful vine" is rich with meaning. In the agrarian society of ancient Israel, vines were a symbol of prosperity and abundance. The vine is often used in Scripture to represent Israel itself (e.g., Psalm 80:8-16). Here, the fruitful vine symbolizes fertility, productivity, and the blessings of a harmonious family life. It suggests that the wife will be a source of joy and sustenance, contributing to the well-being and growth of the family.

within your house
The phrase "within your house" underscores the centrality of the home in biblical thought. The home is not just a physical structure but a place of spiritual and relational significance. It is where faith is nurtured, and values are passed down through generations. The presence of a fruitful wife within the home signifies stability, peace, and divine blessing, reflecting the ideal of a godly household.

your sons
The Hebrew word for "sons" is "בָּנֶיךָ" (banekha), which can also be understood as "children" in a broader sense. Sons were particularly valued in ancient Israel for carrying on the family name and heritage. They were seen as a blessing from God and a sign of His favor. The mention of sons here highlights the continuation of the family line and the hope for future generations who will walk in the ways of the Lord.

will be like olive shoots
Olive trees were highly valued in the ancient Near East for their fruit, oil, and wood. The imagery of "olive shoots" suggests new growth, vitality, and potential. Olive shoots are young and tender, requiring care and nurturing, much like children. This metaphor conveys the idea of children as a blessing and a promise of future prosperity and continuity. It also implies the responsibility of parents to cultivate and nurture their children in the faith.

around your table
The table is a place of fellowship, nourishment, and communion. In biblical times, sharing a meal was an intimate act that signified unity and relationship. The image of children gathered around the table evokes a sense of family togetherness and harmony. It reflects the biblical ideal of a household where love, faith, and community are fostered, and where God's blessings are celebrated and shared.

(3) By the sides--No doubt the inner part of the house is meant (see Psalm 48:2)--the gynec?um or woman's quarter--or perhaps the sides of the inner court or quadrangle. This is no more out of keeping with the figure of the vine than the table is with that of olive plants. Though the Hebrews had not yet developed the fatal habit of secluding their women, as later Orientals have done, still there was a strict custom which allotted a more private tent (Genesis 18:9) or part of a house to them. And doubtless we are here also to think of the good housewife who is engaged within at the household duties, and is not like the idle gossip, sitting "at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city" (Proverbs 9:14). The vine and olive are in Hebrew poetry frequent symbols of fruitfulness and of a happy, flourishing state. (See Psalm 52:8; Jeremiah 11:16.) The comparison of children to the healthy young shoots of a tree is, of course, common to all poetry, being indeed latent in such expressions as "scion of a noble house." (Comp. Euripides, Medea 1,098: "a sweet young shoot of children.")

Verse 3. - Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides (rather, in the inner chambers) of thine house. The second point of blessedness is a fruitful wife, content to dwell in the female apartments of the house, to keep at home (Titus 2:5) and guide the household. Thy children like olive plants; or, "olive shoots" - the vigorous offsets from an aged olive tree, which spring up around it, ready to take its place. Round about thy table. Clustering around thy board, at once a source of cheerfulness and strength (see Psalm 127:5). This is the third point of blessedness.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Your wife
אֶשְׁתְּךָ֤ ׀ (’eš·tə·ḵā)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

will be like a fruitful
פֹּרִיָּה֮ (pō·rî·yāh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 6509: To bear fruit, be fruitful

vine
כְּגֶ֥פֶן (kə·ḡe·p̄en)
Preposition-k | Noun - common singular
Strong's 1612: A vine, the grape

[flourishing] within
בְּיַרְכְּתֵ֪י (bə·yar·kə·ṯê)
Preposition-b | Noun - fdc
Strong's 3411: Flank, side, extreme parts, recesses

your house,
בֵ֫יתֶ֥ךָ (ḇê·ṯe·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1004: A house

your sons
בָּ֭נֶיךָ (bā·ne·ḵā)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

like olive
זֵיתִ֑ים (zê·ṯîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2132: An olive, the tree, the branch, the berry

shoots
כִּשְׁתִלֵ֣י (kiš·ṯi·lê)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8363: A transplanted shoot, slip

[sitting] around
סָ֝בִ֗יב (sā·ḇîḇ)
Adverb
Strong's 5439: A circle, neighbour, environs, around

your table.
לְשֻׁלְחָנֶֽךָ׃ (lə·šul·ḥā·ne·ḵā)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 7979: A table, a meal


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OT Poetry: Psalm 128:3 Your wife will be as a fruitful (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 128:2
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