Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; renew our days as of old,
Parallel translations
- WEB Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old.
- KJV Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
- NKJV Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old,
- NASB Restore us to You, Lord, so that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old,
- NLT Restore us, O Lord, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They plead for God to turn them back to Himself and renew their days as in former times. True restoration must be God's own work in their hearts.
Overview
The prayer 'turn us... and we shall be turned' confesses that repentance and renewal come only by God's gracious initiative, not human effort alone. The longing for renewed days reaches back toward covenant fellowship and forward to restoration. This is the cry the gospel answers, for God grants the new heart and turns us to Himself through Christ (Ezekiel 36:26; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 80:3Restore us, O God, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.
- Ps 80:7Restore us, O God of Hosts, and cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.
- Ps 85:4Restore us, O God of our salvation, and put away Your displeasure toward us.
- Jer 31:18I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
- Ps 80:19Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine upon us, that we may be saved.
- Zech 8:3–6This is what the LORD says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”
- Ezek 36:37This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.
- Ezek 11:19–20And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,
- Jer 32:39–40I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
- Jer 33:10This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again
- Ezek 36:25–27I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- Hab 3:2O LORD, I have heard the report of You; I stand in awe, O LORD, of Your deeds. Revive them in these years; make them known in these years. In Your wrath, remember mercy!
- 1 Kgs 18:37Answer me, O LORD! Answer me, so that this people will know that You, the LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back again.”
- Jer 31:4Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out in joyful dancing.
- Jer 33:13In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.
- Mal 3:4Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in days of old and years gone by.
- Jer 31:23–25This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore them from captivity, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities: ‘May the LORD bless you, O righteous dwelling place, O holy mountain.’
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Christ at the center
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 5:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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