Restore our captives, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.
Parallel translations
- WEB Restore our fortunes again, Yahweh, like the streams in the Negev.
- KJV Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
- NKJV Bring back our captivity, O Lord, As the streams in the South.
- NASB ¶Restore our fortunes, Lord, As the streams in the South.
- NLT Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert.
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 pray for a full restoration, like dry desert streams suddenly flooding. It teaches us to ask God to complete the renewal He has begun.
Overview
Though deliverance had begun, the people pray for its completion, using the image of the Negev's wadis that surge with water after the rains. Partial blessing fuels deeper prayer for fullness. This longing anticipates the final, complete restoration secured in Christ and consummated at His return.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 85:4Restore us, O God of our salvation, and put away Your displeasure toward us.
- Hos 1:11Then the people of Judah and of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one leader, and will go up out of the land. For great will be the day of Jezreel.
- Isa 35:6Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- Isa 43:19Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
- Ps 126:1A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.
- Isa 41:18I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.
- Josh 3:16the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 126:4 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.