Psalms 126King James Version
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
A psalm of return and sowing. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like dreamers. Our mouths were filled with laughter; the nations said: the LORD has done great things for them. He has done great things for us; we are glad. Turn again our captivity as the streams in the Negev. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who goes forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves.
The restoration already experienced in the return is the promise and pattern for the deeper restoration not yet complete; the sowing in tears is not a detour from harvest but the necessary path to it.
verse: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." The most quoted line in the psalm: the law of harvest applied to grief.
Superscription: 'A Song of degrees.' The 'streams in the south' (v4) refers to the wadis of the Negev that run dry in summer and flood in winter: a prayer for sudden abundant restoration after prolonged drought. The agricultural imagery (sowing/reaping) grounds the eschatological hope in the observable rhythms of the earth.
The restored community who were like dreamers; the nations who witnessed the great things done; God who turned the captivity and will do so again; the ones who sow weeping and return with sheaves.
Psalm 126 holds together two tenses: the already of the return (vv1-3) and the not yet of the still-needed restoration (vv4-6). This tension between partial and full restoration became a key text for NT theology of the already/not yet kingdom. The sowing in tears and reaping in joy (vv5-6) is the paradigm for passion-to-resurrection, exile-to-restoration, death-to-life.
For when the restoration has begun but is not complete. The psalm does not require gratitude to be full before asking for more; both are appropriate at the same time.
1[A Song of degrees.] When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
2Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.
3The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
4Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
5They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
6He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.