Thijs Booij, «Psalm 127,2b: a Return to Martin Luther», Vol. 81 (2000) 262-268

In Ps 127,2b )n# (s\e4na4)) tells about the manner of giving (H. Irsigler); it does so by denoting the state of the dydy when he is receiving God’s gift. The particle Nk, as related to Ntn, means ‘according to that’, referring to the notion of toil. The tenor of v. 2b is to underscore that it is God who ‘builds the house’, ‘keeps the city’. What humans receive is not the outcome of toil, not a divine reward for it, but an expression of favour, a gift just like that. Translation: ‘To his beloved one He gives it in sleep’.

bl trcnw hnwz ty# wt)rql h#)
a woman meets him, dressed as a harlot, wily of heart (Prov 7,10)

x+b #wk t) rydxhl
[messengers will go out from me in ships] to terrify Ethiopia when it is unsuspecting (Ezek 30,9)

z( y#pn ykrdt
March on, my soul, in (your) strength (Judg 5,21)

x+b ry(h l( w)byw
and they came against the city when it was unsuspecting (Gen 34,25).

        The noun concluding each of these sentences shows the state of an entity which, as part of the sentence, may have different grammatical functions (it is subject, object, vocative, prepositional phrase in the texts above). In Ps 127,2 )n# can be understood as a modifier of the indirect object wdydy ²⁶.

        Meanwhile another possibility might be considered. In § 118r, Gesenius – Kautzsch has instances of modifiers denoting a similarity:

Ml(pb w)cy rbdmb My)rp
Like wild asses in the desert they go out to their labour (Job 24,5)

rwdk hpnc Kpncy Pwnc
He will fling you far away [?], like a ball (Isa 22,18)²⁷.

        On the analogy of this, Ps 127,2b might be rendered by ‘He gives it as a sleep to his beloved’. As regards content, the two translations — ‘in sleep’ and ‘as a sleep’ — are just slightly different. By both the notion ‘gift’ is underlined; ‘as a sleep’ moreover suggests that the gift is received in relaxation and surrender — which may suit the context. Nevertheless, Irsigler’s interpretation is preferable for more than one reason. In the texts quoted the phrase or noun in question is readily understood, in view of the context, as expressing a comparison²⁸; in Ps 127,2 this is not the case. Moreover, in Ps 127,2 ‘sleep’ has its counterpart in ‘rising early’ and ‘sitting down late’; since these are meant literally, the same is likely to hold for ‘sleep’. Finally, the title ‘Of Solomon’ has probably been inspired primarily by the combination of wdydy (which recalled the name Jedidiah, 2 Sam 12,25) and )n# (which recalled Solomon’s dream at Gibeon, 1 Kgs 3,4-15)²⁹. This combination