Translations
A Song of degrees for Solomon. 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.
A Song of Ascents. For Shlomo.
Unless YHWH builds the house, its builders labour for nothing; unless YHWH guards the city, the watchman wakes in vain.
A Song of the Steps. For Solomon.
Unless Yahweh builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman keeps watch in vain.
A song of ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain; unless the LORD protects the city, its watchmen stand guard in vain.
Footnotes
The superscription Shir HaMa'alot liShlomo—"A Song of the Ascents. For/Of Shlomo"—places this psalm in pointed dialogue with Solomon's defining achievement: the building of the Temple (1 Kings 6). The very man who poured the nation's resources into constructing Yahweh's house is reminded—or himself reminds us—that the house stands only by God's initiative, not architectural genius. Shav', "emptiness/vanity/futility," strikes twice in this verse like a hammer, driving home the hollowness of unaided human effort. F.O.G. retains "for nothing" and "in vain" to echo the doubled rhetorical blow; F.O.G.M. uses "for nothing" and "in vain" with expanded surrounding phrasing to sustain the parallel structure across both clauses.
