Psalm 126

Commonplace –

“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” (Psalm 126:5-6).

In reading these songs of ascent, it is important to put oneself in the place of one of the pilgrims, who was traveling to Jerusalem. Walking towards the city, the group recites in unison aloud this entire group of psalms. So, here we are traveling the path in the company of our fellow believers. Hopefully, the sun is shining. Depending on the festival and time of year, the air might be crisp (we are, after all, slowly moving up the mountain). The song leader calls out Psalm 126, and we begin to recite.

In this psalm, the writer begins by reminding the reader about the time when the Jews were freed from captivity; it was a joy filled time, almost as if they were in a dream. The captives were laughing and crying and saying to anyone that would listen, “The Lord has done great things for us” (Psalm 126:2). As a pilgrim, we would be imagining the joy filled scene of our ancestors. What a moment that must have been to be freed from captivity. The Lord acted on the captives behalf, and they were glad.

Then, the writer of the psalm returns to the present and addresses God with the plea, “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south” (Psalm 126:4). He is praying that God would accomplish the same for the present day pilgrims, which He had done for the forefathers.

Finally, the writer ends with this encouragement, which is the commonplace for today, “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” (Psalm 126:6). The flow of the psalm is remember, pray, believe; God has done it before and will do it again.

These pilgrims were people just like us. Together, they were the church, which has its present problems to solve, but they were also individual people with everyday life challenges. The psalmist was giving these pilgrims a map of how to live life in times of trouble:

1. Remember a time when God did something that had seemed impossible. Recall the joy felt in that moment.
2. Pray for God to come into whatever current situation is disturbing.
3. Believe that God, who was faithful in the past to answer prayer, is faithful in the present to do the same.

As Matthew Henry notes,

“It will be easy, in singing this psalm, to apply it either to any particular deliverance wrought for the church or our own land or to the great work of our salvation by Christ” (600).

Works Cited

Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 126.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

© 2025 Angela Hormberg