Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
Parallel translations
- WEB Restore our fortunes again, Yahweh, like the streams in the Negev.
- BSB Restore our captives, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.
- 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 85:4Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
- Hos 1:11Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
- Isa 35:6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
- Isa 43:19Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
- Ps 126:1When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
- Isa 41:18I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
- Josh 3:16That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against 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.