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Psalm 131 · a question people ask

Why a weaned child?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say why. It says weaned twice (131:2) (tap weaned). The verb is gamal, and among its senses Brown-Driver-Briggs gives "wean a child (complete his nursing)". So the child in the picture has finished nursing, and is still "with his mother" (131:2). Genesis tells of Isaac's weaning: "The child grew and was weaned" (Genesis 21:8). First Samuel tells of Samuel's: "When she had weaned him, she took him up with her" (1 Samuel 1:24). Neither gives the child's age, and Psalm 131 doesn't either. These notes add nothing about weaning that the text doesn't say.

The verses

“Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
Psalm 131:2 · World English Bible
“The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.”
Genesis 21:8 · World English Bible
“When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to the LORD’s house in Shiloh. The child was young.”
1 Samuel 1:24 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 131

Psalm 131: Like a weaned child

Psalm 131 says the heart and the eyes are not high, with two Hebrew verbs for high, and its concern myself (131:1) is the verb for walking. Then it is the soul, not the speaker, that is "like a weaned child" (131:2), stilled and quieted. And it ends by turning to all Israel: "Israel, hope in the LORD" (131:3).

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Last reviewed September 28, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions