Psalm 128
King James Version
A short psalm on the blessing that comes to the family of one who fears the LORD.
Download the handwriting worksheet (PDF)Printable, ruled for handwriting: copy it by hand, then type it here.
About this text
Like Psalm 121, Psalm 128 is one of the "Songs of degrees," and it turns the pilgrimage psalms' theme of blessing toward a specific, domestic picture: a household where a vine grows by the house and children sit like olive plants around the table. It's shorter and more concrete than many psalms of blessing, staying close to ordinary family life rather than moving into national or cosmic imagery.
The psalm uses agricultural comparisons — a fruitful vine, olive plants — to describe people, a kind of metaphor that shows up often in the Psalms and is worth noticing precisely because it's unfamiliar to a reader who has never seen an olive grove. Copying it slowly gives a student a moment to sit with an image from a very different time and place.
What to watch for
- 1 semicolon: a semicolon joins two complete thoughts that belong together, a pause longer than a comma but shorter than a period.
- 3 colons: a colon points ahead to what explains or completes the first half of the sentence.
- 1 apostrophe: sort each one into possession (the shepherd's staff) or a missing letter (don't = do not).
- Capital letters in the middle of a sentence: LORD, Zion, Jerusalem, Israel. Ask why each one is capitalized before typing it.
- Old-fashioned words: feareth, walketh, thou, shalt, thine, thee, thy, yea. These are easy to "correct" by accident into modern spelling, so copy them exactly as written.
- Longest word: "children's" (10 letters). Try spelling it aloud once before reaching it.
- 6 lines averaging about 17 words each. A comfortable line length for a single sitting.
Full text (reference)
1Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
2For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
3Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
4Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD.
5The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
6Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.