What Does Psalm 127:2 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The beloved receives sleep as a gift, while painful toil cannot buy the security it promises.
THE MEANING
You can fill the day and night with effort and still cannot make effort itself the source of life. The verse calls that provision “bread of sorrows,” then places it beside sleep given to the beloved. Rest appears as a gift within being beloved, not a wage wrung from exhaustion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that you must exhaust yourself to deserve rest or secure what you need.
THE ROOT
עֲצָבִים
ʿatsavim
GROWS FROM
ע־צ־ב
ʿ-ts-b
To hurt or cause pain; this word family also carries grief and painful toil.
In “bread of sorrows,” עֲצָבִים (ʿatsavim, pains or toils) brings pain and labor into one word family. The contrast is sharper than a schedule: food marked by painful effort sits opposite sleep given to the beloved.
ALSO GROWS
ʿetsev: Pain, sorrow, or toil
עֶצֶב
Proverbs 10:22 uses this word for sorrow, placing the LORD’s blessing beside gain without sorrow.
ʿitsavon: Painful toil or hardship
עִצָּבוֹן
Genesis 3:17 uses this form for the painful toil tied to eating from the ground, linking food and labor through the same root.
THE PATTERN
Provision and rest are received under God’s care; relentless striving cannot create the security life requires.
I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE THREAD
The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.The Hebrew עֶצֶב (ʿetsev, sorrow or painful toil) in Proverbs belongs to the same root family as עֲצָבִים (ʿatsavim, sorrows or toils) in this Psalm. Proverbs places the LORD’s blessing beside gain without that pain, extending the contrast between painful bread and sleep given to the beloved.
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