Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
KJV
Parallel translations
4 additional translations▾
Parallel translations
4 additional translationsExcept Jehovah build the house, They labor in vain that build it: Except Jehovah keep the city, The watchman waketh but in vain.
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
A Song of the Ascents, by Solomon. If Jehovah doth not build the house, In vain have its builders laboured at it, If Jehovah doth not watch a city, In vain hath a watchman waked.
Unless Jehovah build the house, in vain do its builders labour in it; unless Jehovah keep the city, the keeper watcheth in vain:
About this book
Old Testament▾
About this book
Old TestamentPsalms — The canon's longest book — 150 Psalms edited into five doxology-bookended books, composed across a millennium, attributed to David, Asaph, Korah's sons, Moses, Solomon, Heman, Ethan, and anonymous voices. A ''Torah of David''; the Bible's longest continuous liturgical-devotional corpus.
- Author
- David principally (73 Psalms + 2 NT-cited); Asaph, Sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, Heman, Ethan; ~50 anonymous.
- Date
- Composed c. 1400 BC (Mosaic Ps 90) through the post-exilic period (Ps 126 ''when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion''). Roughly a millennium of composition; editorial compilation likely into the Persian period.