Psalms 144:12

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:

That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth - `growing up vigorously in their times of youth' (Psalms 128:3). Deliverance from the enemy is a necessary preliminary to having a vigorous population. In times of oppression by a foreign enemy pale and sickly children abound.

That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. Female figures were used instead of columns in supporting buildings, called by the Romans Caryatides. This usage, if it existed in David's time and country, would beautifully illustrate this verse. The Hebrew for "corner-stones" is used of 'the corners of an altar,' Zechariah 9:15 [ zaawiyot (H2106)]. They were those stones which, as occupying so prominent a place in the building as the corner, were made lofty, graceful, and elegant (Ephesians 2:20). Hengstenberg explains it 'projectures;' the shining and tapering points of a beautiful palace; its graceful pinnacles.