Unless the Lord (From Psalm 127)

Unless the Lord build the house the builders labor in vain;

Unless the Lord guard the city the watchmen wake in vain.

In vain you rise up early and then retire late,

To eat the fruit of grief, the bread of pain,

But for all His beloved, to these he gives sleep.

Behold children are a gift, a gift of the Lord,

And the fruit of the womb is a great reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man of war,

So are the children who in our youth are born.

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;

They shall not be ashamed when they speak with foes in the gate.