Passage

Psalms 126.5-6

Book: Psalms · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

3. Jehovah hath done great things for us, Whereof we are glad. 4. Turn again our captivity, O Jehovah, As the streams in the South.

5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Psalms 126:3-6, ASV)

WEB

3. Yahweh has done great things for us, and we are glad. 4. Restore our fortunes again, Yahweh, like the streams in the Negev.

5. Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. 6. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves. (Psalms 126:3-6, WEB)

KJV

3. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. 4. Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.

5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. ^{joy: or, singing} 6. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. ^{precious: or, seed basket} (Psalms 126:3-6, KJV)

YLT

3. Jehovah did great things with us, We have been joyful. 4. Turn again, O Jehovah, [to] our captivity, As streams in the south.

5. Those sowing in tears, with singing do reap, 6. Whoso goeth on and weepeth, Bearing the basket of seed, Surely cometh in with singing, bearing his sheaves! (Psalms 126:3-6, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: the psalmist; the psalm carries no attribution
Audience: Israel gathered in worship; the Psalter is the congregation's book
Location: the Songs of Ascents, sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem
Time period: after the return from exile, on the most common dating

Theological reading

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

The image is agricultural and the emotion is specific: sowing in tears is planting the last grain during famine, when the seed in hand is also the food not eaten. It is an act of hope made at cost.

The psalm's first half looks back on the return from captivity as something that felt like a dream, and the second half asks for a further restoration, "restore our fortunes like streams in the Negeb," dry channels that fill suddenly with flood water. So the psalm is praying for a repetition of a deliverance already experienced.

The two halves give the psalm its structure and its pastoral use: memory of a past reversal is the ground for asking a present one.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Argument from the Universal Tear-Hierarchy Convergence

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.