When it is said
In the Orthodox service book, the choir sings it while the priest sprinkles the foundations of a new church with holy water.
Anyone can pray it at the end of a long day at work, or at night when work or money worries keep sleep away.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Headed “of Solomon”
The heading “A Song of Ascents” stands over 15 psalms, from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134. This is the only one of them whose heading names Solomon, and it stands in the middle of the group, with seven on either side. The old Greek and Latin Bibles number it Psalm 126.
Mechon-Mamre, the Hebrew Bible with the 1917 JPS English; Wikipedia, “Psalm 127”
For a new home, and for the soul
St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. His advice is to give thanks and say this psalm and Psalm 30 on the day you dedicate your house. He means two houses, the one you live in and the soul that welcomes the Lord.
“You need one to give the crown”
In a sermon on Matthew 19, St Gregory the Theologian quoted this psalm’s first verse against people so proud of their success that they credit it all to themselves and none of it to God. He taught that our own effort is needed too, but “however much you may run, however much you may wrestle, yet you need one to give the crown.”
What the words mean
Sleep, or in sleep?
The Hebrew of the second verse can be read two ways. The old Greek and Latin Bibles take sleep as God’s gift, and so does the King James Version: “He giveth His beloved sleep”. The plain wording follows them. The Jewish Publication Society’s English of 1917 reads “He giveth unto His beloved in sleep”. That means God provides for the one He loves even while they sleep.
Wikipedia, “Psalm 127”; Mechon-Mamre, the Hebrew Bible with the 1917 JPS English
The Scripture in it
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved. Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.