Deuteronomy 7: 13 & 14
He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land, your grain, new wine and olive oil, the calves of your herd and the lambs of your flock.
Deuteronomy 28:2-14English Standard Version (ESV)
2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
PEACE AND PROSPERITY
Ezekiel 43:26
I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season. There will be showers of blessing.
HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND A LONG LIFE
Psalm 21 : 3 - 5
You come to greet him with rich blessings and place a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked you for life and you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever through the victories you have his glory as great you have bestowed on him splendour and majesty.
CHILDREN AND A HAPPY HOME
Psalm 28: 1 - 9
To you, O Lord, I call;
jmy rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you kbe silent to me,
I become like those who lgo down to the pit.
2 mHear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I nlift up my hands
3 Do not pdrag me off with the wicked,
with the workers of evil,
qwho speak peace with their neighbors
while evil is in their hearts.
4 rGive to them according to their work
and according to the evil of their deeds;
give to them according to the work of their hands;
srender them their due reward.
5 Because they tdo not regard the works of the Lord
or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and build them up no more.
For he has uheard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and vmy shield;
in him my heart wtrusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my xsong I give thanks to him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people;2
he is ythe saving refuge of his anointed.
9 Oh, save your people and bless zyour heritage!
The story of Psalm 128
A family tree is a list of all the people in your family: your grandparents, your parents, your husband or wife, your children and your grandchildren. Also people that lived before and after them all. People who are *in awe of the *LORD will see part of their family tree! This psalm teaches us that. They will live at *peace in Jerusalem. For many Christians, Jerusalem means where they live. Psalm 87 and some of Paul’s letters tell us that the Jerusalem on the earth is a picture of the Jerusalem in heaven. Heaven is the home of God. We do not know where it is.
What Psalm 128 means
Verse 1: "In awe" means "a bit afraid of someone that you love". People are "in awe" of God because he is so great. They love him. But they know that he is very powerful. "*LORD" is a special name for God. It is his covenant name. A covenant is when people agree to do something. Here, God agrees to send his people help. His people agree to love and obey him. "Walk in his ways" is a *Jewish way to say "obey his rules".
Verse 3: Both word-pictures mean that you will have many children. You will if you "walk in his ways"! A vine is a tree. It grows a fruit called the grape. An *olive tree grows a fruit called the olive. An *olive tree has many branches.
Verse 4: "Does good things to you" in verse 4 is "blesses you" in many Bible translations. This is a good example of the word "bless". It means "have many children". It can also mean that your animals will have many young animals. And your plants will have many fruits on them. If you obey God, good things will happen to you! Good things will come from your work (verse 2). And good things will happen to your family (verse 3) and to Jerusalem (verse 5).
Verse 5: The *Jews believed that God lived in Jerusalem. God is "the *LORD of *Zion". *Zion is the hill in the middle of Jerusalem. Solomon built God’s house, the *temple, on the hill of *Zion. For many Christians, Jerusalem is like a picture of the Church or a picture of *heaven.
Verse 6: "*Peace" is when people do not fight each other. Jesus taught us that there is a special *peace. Only Jesus can give it to us. It means that we are friends with God. And we always obey him. Also, God does not hurt us because we have not obeyed him. Israel, like Jerusalem in verse 5, is a picture of God’s people. For *Jews, it means *Jews; for Christians it means Christians.