The restoration of Israel from exile in Babylon was a marvel so astonishing that it could hardly be credited. It was the occasion for the most joyous thanksgiving, and even the heathen recognised the greatness of Jehovah’s favour to His people (Psalm 126:1-3). But the sequel had been disappointing; and the restored community had need to pray that Jehovah would carry on and complete the work which He had begun. Faith however could not doubt that seed sown in tears would produce a joyful harvest (Psalm 126:4-6).

All that can be said with certainty as regards the date of the Psalm is that it belongs to the post-exilic period. It may have been written in the midst of the troubles which hindered the rebuilding of the Temple in the first twenty years after the Return. But more probably it belongs, like the preceding Psalms, to the early part of the Ezra-Nehemiah period, when the sense of failure and disappointment had sunk more deeply into the heart of the people, and the contrast between the glowing promises of the prophets and the actual condition of the weak community in Palestine had become a permanent trial of faith, while at the same time the dawn of happier days appeared to be at hand. The impression produced by Psalm 126:1-3 is that the jubilant rejoicing of the Restoration lies in a somewhat remote past. The use of the first person plural in Psalm 126:1-3 is no objection to this view. It does not necessarily imply that the Psalmist and his contemporaries took part in the First Return. Their vivid sense of the continuity of national life would enable Israel of the time of Ezra readily to identify itself with Israel of the time of Zerubbabel.

The elegiac rhythm of the Psalm is well marked.

The general thought of the Psalm resembles that of Psalms 85, with which it should be compared and contrasted.

1. turned again the captivity of Zion] No doubt the restoration from exile in Babylon is meant, whether the literal meaning of the phrase is to bring back the captivity, or to turn the fortunes, i.e. restore the prosperity, of Zion. See note on Psalm 53:6; and cp. Psalm 14:7; Psalm 85:1; Hosea 6:11; Amos 9:14. The substantive here however differs in form from that used elsewhere, and if the variation is intentional and not merely a scribe’s error, the meaning may be, When Jehovah brought back those that returned to Zion (R.V. marg.).

we were like them that dream] We could hardly believe that the deliverance was a reality, and not an illusion which would vanish like a dream. Cp. Isaiah 29:8; Luke 24:41; Acts 12:9.

Polybius and Livy use similar language to describe the joy and astonishment of the Greeks when, after the conquest of Macedonia by T. Quinctius Flamininus in b.c. 196, the freedom of Greece was proclaimed at the Isthmian games. “None could believe that he had really heard aright; men looked at one another in astonishment as if it was the empty illusion of a dream; distrusting the testimony of his own ears, each began to question his neighbour.” Livy xxxiii. 32; cp. Pol. xviii. 29. 7.

1–3. Israel’s rejoicing at the incredible marvel of restoration to its own land.

2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter] Cp. Job 8:21.

singing] Or, shouts of joy, a word characteristic of the second Isaiah (Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 54:1; Isaiah 55:12). The Psalms of the Return (93–100) were the expression of this joy.

then said they among the nations] Even heathen nations recognised the marvel of Israel’s deliverance. Cf. Isaiah 52:10; Psalm 98:2, &c.

hath done great things for them] Cp. Joel 2:21, and with the preceding line cp. Joel 2:17.

3. The community appropriates the words of the nations, and recalls the joy of that wonderful time: Jehovah did great things for us: we were glad.

4. Turn again our captivity] Or, Restore our fortunes.

as the streams in the South] The Negeb, or ‘South’ country, literally ‘the dry region,’ was the arid waterless district to the south of Judah (Jdg 1:15), where in summer all the brooks dry up, and are only filled by the autumn rains. Thus far the restoration of Israel has been only as it were a scanty thread of water trickling among the stones, but as in the due season Jehovah refills those stony stream-beds with abundance of sparkling rushing water, so He can re-animate the feeble community of Israel with fresh and vigorous life, and multiply its scanty numbers into the crowds which the prophet’s vision saw streaming to Jerusalem (Isaiah 49:18).

4–6. Prayer for fuller blessing, and the expression of confident faith that efforts however feeble must bear fruit. These verses evidently imply a background of disappointed hopes and anxious struggles.

5. The efforts of the returned exiles to re-establish the nation had been carried on in the midst of hindrances and disappointments, anxieties and fears; but the Psalmist cannot doubt that they will in due time bear fruit. “So is it ever in God’s kingdom. Precisely those undertakings, which at first seemed hopeless and were begun under pressing troubles, end in achieving the greatest good” (Von Gerlach, quoted by Kay). The tears shed at the Foundation of the Second Temple (Ezra 3:12), and the rejoicings at its completion (Ezra 6:16; Ezra 6:22), and at the Dedication of the Walls (Nehemiah 12:27; Nehemiah 12:43) were only illustrations of the general truth. Cp. Matthew 5:4.

in joy] With shouts of joy, the same word as that for singing in Psalm 126:2. There is naturally an allusion to the rejoicings of harvest (Isaiah 9:3 &c.).

6. Though one goeth weeping on his way, when he carrieth forth the seed to sow,

He shall surely come with shouts of joy, when he carrieth home his sheaves.

The subject in both clauses may most naturally though not necessarily be taken to be the same: at any rate the thought that “one soweth and another reapeth” (John 4:36; John 4:38) is not prominent here.

precious seed] This has been explained to mean ‘costly’ on account of the scarcity of corn, with reference to the bad seasons from which the community suffered after the Return (Haggai 1:10 f.; Psalm 85:12); but the rendering cannot be maintained. The cognate verb in Amos 9:13 means to ‘draw out’ or ‘trail’ the seed: and the substantive here means the seed which is trailed or cast into the ground, seed for sowing.