Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 127:2

"It is vain for you to rise up early, To take rest late, To eat the bread of toil; [For] so he giveth unto his beloved sleep." — Psalms 127:2 (ASV)

It is vain for you to rise up early—The psalmist does not say here that it is improper to rise early, or that there could be no advantage in it, or that people would be more likely to be successful in their undertakings if they did not rise early; but rather that, even if this were done, they would still be completely dependent on God. Mere early rising, without his blessing, would not secure what they hoped to accomplish, for everything is still in the hand of God. Health, strength, clarity of mind, and success are all under his control; and though early rising may tend to produce all these—as it does in fact—people are still no less dependent on God for success.

To sit up late—that is, so that you may labor or study. As in the former case, the psalmist does not express any opinion about the propriety or impropriety of early rising, so it is with respect to this. He merely says that if it is done, this by itself will not accomplish the object; people are still dependent on God for success even if they do it. As a matter of fact, however, sitting up late has less tendency to promote success in life than early rising; but in either case, there is the same dependence on God.

To eat the bread of sorrows—This means bread acquired through care, anxiety, or trouble; that is, bread earned or procured by severe toil. There may be an allusion here to the original sentence pronounced on humankind (Genesis 3:17). The meaning is that it is in vain for you to labor hard and exhaust your strength to get bread to eat, unless God blesses you. After all your toil, the result is with him.

For so he giveth his beloved sleep—The word “for” is not in the original. The sentence is very obscure in its current connection. The Septuagint and Latin Vulgate render it: “You who eat the bread of care—rise when you have rested—when he has given his beloved sleep.” Some have supposed it to mean that God gives his people rest without toil, or that while others labor, his “beloved”—his friends—sleep; but this interpretation is not necessarily demanded by the Hebrew and is inconsistent with the general doctrine of the Bible. Others have supposed the idea to be that God gives his beloved rest after labor; but though this is true, it is not true of them especially or exclusively. Some suppose, with as little probability, that the meaning is that what others hope (but hope in vain) to get by labor, the Lord bestows upon his people in sleep, and they do not know how.

The meaning evidently is that God bestows “sleep” upon his people in some sense in which it is not bestowed on others. Alternatively, it means that, in their case, there is something that makes them different from those who are so anxious and troubled—those who rise so early for the sake of gain, who toil so late, and who eat the bread of care. The idea seems to be that there would be calmness, repose, and freedom from anxiety or solicitude. God makes the minds of his people—his beloved—calm and tranquil, while the world around is filled with anxiety and restlessness—busy, bustling, worried. As a consequence of this calmness of mind and their confidence in him, they enjoy undisturbed repose at night.

They are not kept wakeful and anxious about their worldly affairs as other people are, for they leave all with God, and thus he giveth his beloved sleep. The particle “so”—כן kên—or “thus,” I apprehend, refers to the general sense of what has been said, rather than to what immediately precedes it. It refers to the fact that all success depends on God (Psalms 127:1), and that it is always by his interposition, and not as the result of human skill, toil, or fatigue, that people find calmness, success, and repose. It is only by the favor of God, and by their recognizing their dependence on him, that they find repose, success, and freedom from care.