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Psalm 144 · a question people ask

"Happy are the people whose God is the LORD" (144:15). Does that mean their barns will always be full?

In the text

The last verse has two lines. "Happy are the people who are in such a situation" (144:15) looks back on the sons, daughters, barns, sheep, oxen and quiet streets of 144:12-14. "Happy are the people whose God is the LORD" (144:15) says it of the people whose God he is. The psalm sets the two lines side by side and doesn't say more about how they fit. Another psalm says nearly the second line's words, with no harvest in the verse: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance" (Psalm 33:12), where Blessed is the same Hebrew word as Happy here. And Habakkuk says that even though "the fields yield no food" (Habakkuk 3:17), "yet I will rejoice in the LORD" (Habakkuk 3:18). These notes set the verses side by side, and don't make Psalm 144's picture a promise of any one harvest, or a measure of anyone's.

The verses

“Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is the LORD.”
Psalm 144:12-15 · World English Bible
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.”
Psalm 33:12 · World English Bible
“For even though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food, the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”
Habakkuk 3:17-18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 144

Psalm 144: Blessed be the LORD, my rock

Psalm 144 shares many of Psalm 18's Hebrew words, the heavens bowed, the arrows and lightning, the great waters, and asks for what Psalm 18 tells as done. It asks Psalm 8's question in its own Hebrew, and its care for is yada, know (144:3). It prays "Rescue me" twice, and ends with Happy twice: "Happy are the people whose God is the LORD" (144:15).

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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