Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; 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.
- BSB Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return; 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 80:3Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
- Ps 80:7Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
- Ps 85:4Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
- Jer 31:18I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.
- Ps 80:19Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
- Zech 8:3–6Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain.
- Ezek 36:37Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
- Ezek 11:19–20And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
- Jer 32:39–40And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
- Jer 33:10Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,
- Ezek 36:25–27Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- Hab 3:2O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
- 1 Kgs 18:37Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
- Jer 31:4Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
- Jer 33:13In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the LORD.
- Mal 3:4Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
- Jer 31:23–25Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.
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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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