Psalm 128

A song of ascents.

¹⁰ God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.^(A)

⁷ Do not be deceived:^(A) God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.^{(B) 8} Whoever sows to please their flesh,^(C) from the flesh will reap destruction;^(D) whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.^(E)

¹² Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better^(A) with those who fear God,^(B) who are reverent before him.^(C)

¹⁰ “Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood^(D) or does any of these other things^{[a] 11} (though the father has done none of them):

Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he is to be put to death; his blood will be on his own head.^(J)

¹⁴ “But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:^(K)

He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. ¹⁸ But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.

¹⁹ “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live.^(Q)

Blessings for Obedience

28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow^(A) all his commands^(B) I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.^{(C) 2} All these blessings will come on you^(D) and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies^(I) who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.^(J)

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless^(K) you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people,^(L) as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands^(M) of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name^(N) of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock^(O) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^(P)

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(Q) of his bounty,^(R) to send rain^(S) on your land in season and to bless^(T) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^{(U) 13} The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow^(V) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^{(W) 14} Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,^(X) following other gods and serving them.

¹⁸ And you will again see the distinction between the righteous^(A) and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.^(B)