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Psalm 126

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1When the LORD restored his exiles to Jerusalem,

it was like a dream!

2We were filled with laughter,

and we sang for joy.

And the other nations said,

“What amazing things the LORD has done for them.”

3Yes, the LORD has done amazing things for us!

What joy!

4Restore our fortunes, LORD,

as streams renew the desert.

5Those who plant in tears

will harvest with shouts of joy.

6They weep as they go to plant their seed,

but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Cyrus the Great of Persia did something unheard of. He recorded his astonishing deed on a ten-inch piece of clay, now located in the British Museum. The Cyrus Cylinder announces: “I [Cyrus] gathered all their inhabitants and returned [to them] their habitations.” In other words, he let his captives return home.

This was a revolutionary policy in the ancient world. Assyria and Babylon took their captives and made them slaves. But when Persia defeated Babylon, Cyrus sent the captives back to their homes. No wonder the Israelites thought it was like a dream.

The Roman historian Livy records a similar event that happened two hundred years later when Rome conquered Greece. The Greeks were expecting the worst. Then, as tens of thousands of Greeks packed an arena to witness the Isthmian Games, the word came that liberty was restored to all the Greek cities. The crowd was stunned; they “were like them that dream,” the historian wrote, unintentionally echoing this psalm.

That’s the way it is with the gospel. “The gospel is nothing else than laughter and joy,” said Luther. “It is good tidings of great joy.”

The Lord has done, is doing, and will continue to do great things for us—and not merely great things, but amazing things. How many of these things have you already witnessed in your own life?

Low we bow before thy face;

Sons of God, O wondrous place;

Great the riches of thy grace.

Father, we adore thee.

SAMUEL TREVOR FRANCIS

A Word on Words

The “streams of the desert” (verse 4) were gullies that a rainstorm would fill suddenly with rushing water. For a short time after such a watering, these streambeds would burst into bloom with wildflowers. Eugene Peterson comments, “With such suddenness are long, dry periods of waiting interrupted by God’s invasion into our lives in Jesus Christ.”

Bible Networking

Like this psalm, the story of Joseph’s life begins with a dream and includes an amazing harvest (Genesis 37–50). Do you see any other parallels between this psalm and Joseph’s life?