complete verse (Psalm 127:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 127:5:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Blessed (is) a person
    whose carrier of arrows is full.
    They will not be humiliated
    when contending with their enemies at the gates.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Blessed is the person who has many sons.
    When he meets his enemies at the place of judgment,
    (his) enemies will never be able to defeat him.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “Blessed (is) the man who has many children,
    for he will-be-helped when they go-in-front of his enemies at the place-of-judging/court.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “Bless is the man
    who has many children,
    they will not be defeated
    when they meet and speak with his enemies in the court.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Amebarikiwa ambaye Mungu anamjazia mishale mingi,
    hatakuja kushindwa wakati amekutana na adui zake mahakamani.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “A man who has many sons is very happy, like a soldier who has many arrows in his quiver is very happy.
    If a man with his many grown sons is taken by his enemies to the place where they decide matters, his enemies will never be able to defeat that man,
    because his sons will help to defend him.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

enemy / foe

The Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “enemy” or “foe” in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Bible as “friends of front,” i.e., the person standing opposite you in a battle. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

In North Alaskan Inupiatun it is translated with a term that implies that it’s not just someone who hates you, but one who wants to do you harm (Source: Robert Bascom), in Tarok as ukpa ìkum or “companion in war/fighting,” and in Ikwere as nye irno m or “person who hates me” (source for this and one above: Chuck and Karen Tessaro in this newsletter ).

In Cherokee it is either translated as “the one(s) who reprimand(s) you” or “the one(s) feared.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 47)

Translation commentary on Psalm 127:5

In this verse the psalmist continues with the figure of arrows, speaking of a quiver full of them. Good News Translation does not refer to a quiver, since the word would be difficult for many readers (similarly Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); but Good News Translation has retained the figure, “who has many such arrows.” In those languages in which quiver cannot be used and no adequate substitute is available, the translator may say, for example, “Happy is the man who has many sons.”

The last part of verse 5 in Hebrew has the verbs in the plural, “They will not be ashamed when they speak,” and some take the subject to be the sons of verse 4 (New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version, Bible de Jérusalem, New American Bible); but most translations take the plural as a general way of speaking (so New English Bible “such men”), referring to the fathers of many sons (see Cohen; so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), not to the sons themselves. This seems preferable, since it maintains the same subject in verses 4-5. To be put to shame is to experience the shame of defeat. Good News Translation‘s “never be defeated” will in some languages require recasting; for example, “His enemies will never defeat him.”

The enemies in the gate are a man’s adversaries in a legal dispute; the open space near the inner gate of the city was the place where legal disputes were settled (see Ruth 4.1-2; Job 29.7-17). If he had a number of grown sons with him, a man would be more likely to win in a legal dispute with his adversaries. In some languages there is a term for a designated place in the village where village elders meet for hearings. In cases where there is no such customary place, in the gate is sometimes rendered, for example, “the place where men meet to decide matters,” or idiomatically, “the place where people meet to cut words.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .