Teks -- Psalms 126:2 (NET)

126:2 At that time we laughed loudly and shouted for joy. At that time the nations said, “The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

JFB: Psa 126:1-3

To praise for God's favor to His people is added a prayer for its continued manifestation. (Psa 126:1-6)

JFB: Psa 126:1-3 - When the Lord, &c.

The joy of those returned from Babylon was ecstatic, and elicited the admiration even of the heathen, as illustrating God's great power and goodness.

JFB: Psa 126:1-3 - turned again the captivity

That is, restored from it (Job 39:12; Psa 14:7; Pro 12:14). HENGSTENBERG translates: "When the Lord turned Himself to the turning of Zion" (see Margin), God returns to His people when they return to Him (Deu 30:2-3).

Clarke: Psa 126:2 - Then upas our mouth filled with laughter

Then upas our mouth filled with laughter - The same effect as was produced on the poor liberated Grecians mentioned above

Clarke: Psa 126:2 - Then said they among the heathen

Then said they among the heathen - The liberty now granted was brought about in so extraordinary a way, that the very heathens saw that the hand of the great Jehovah must have been in it.

Calvin: Psa 126:2 - Now shall our mouth be filled with laughter

2.Now shall our mouth be filled with laughter The adverb of time, אז , az, is commonly translated then; but as the verbs are in the future tense, I have thought that it might not be improper to translate tires — grow shall our mouth be filled, and now shall they say. If, however, we admit what some Hebrew Doctors affirm, that the force of this particle is to change the future tense into the past, the adverb then will be the appropriate word. The design of the Prophet is not at all obscure. He would have the people so to rejoice on account of their return, as not to bury in forgetfulness the grace of God. He therefore describes no ordinary rejoicing, but such as so fills their minds as to constrain them to break forth into extravagance of gesture and of voice. At the same time he intimates that there was good ground for this joy, in which it became the children of God to indulge, on account of their return to their own land. As there was at that period nothing more wretched than for them to live in captivity, in which they were in a manner dispossessed of the inheritance God had promised them; so there was nothing which ought to have been more desirable to them than to be restored. Their restoration to their own country having been therefore a proof of their renewed adoption by God, it is not surprising to find the Prophet asserting that their mouth was filled with laughter, and their tongue with exultation. With a similar joy does it become us at the present day to exult when God gathers together his Church and it is an undoubted evidence that we are steel-hearted, if her miserable dispersion does not produce in our minds grief and lamentation. The Prophet proceeds farther, declaring that this miracle was seen even by the blind; for in that age of the world, as is well known, the heathen were wandering in darkness like blind men, no knowledge of God having shone upon them; and yet God’s power and operation were so conspicuous in that event, that they burst forth into the open acknowledgment that God had done great things for his people. So much the more shame-fill then was the indifference of the Jews to be accounted, if they did not freely and loudly celebrate God’s grace, which had acquired so much renown among the unbelieving. The form of speech employed is also to be marked, which forcibly expresses the idea intended to be conveyed, that the mighty power of God in this deliverance was known by the Gentiles. In the following verse the Prophet repeats in his own person, and in that of the Church, the words uttered by the heathen in the last member of the preceding verse. Let us at least, as if he had said, put forth a confession corresponding to that which God has extorted from the unbelieving Gentiles. When he adds that they were glad, there is an implied antithesis between this fresh joy and the long continued sorrow with which they were afflicted in their captivity, he expressly declares that joy was restored to them, to enable them the better to estimate the dismal condition from which they had been extricated.

TSK: Psa 126:2 - Then was // then said // done great things for them

Then was : Psa 14:7, Psa 53:6, Psa 106:47, Psa 106:48; Ezr 3:11; Job 8:21; Isa 35:10, Isa 49:9-13; Jer 31:12, Jer 31:13, Jer 33:11; Rev 11:15-17

then said : Num 23:23; Jos 2:9-11, Jos 9:9, Jos 9:10; Neh 6:16; Zec 8:22, Zec 8:23; Rom 11:15

done great things for them : Heb. magnified to do with them

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Psa 126:2

They did and well might wonder at it, that a heathen emperor should of his own mere motion show so much kindness to so hateful and despicable a people as the Jews were.

Haydock: Psa 126:2 - Light // Rise ye // Sitten // Sorrow // Beloved

Light. That is, your early rising, your labour and worldly solicitude, will be vain, that is, will avail you nothing, without the light, grace, and blessing of God. (Challoner) ---

Nehemias divided the people into companies, to prevent their being too much fatigued. (Calmet) ---

Without light it is impossible for man to work, John ix. 4. (Haydock) ---

The labours of those who live by the robbery of the distressed, are vain. (Chaldean) ---

Rise ye, is not in Hebrew. (Haydock) ---

Sitten. Allow yourselves proper time for rest, after your labours and sorrows: for his beloved, whom he favours with his grace, shall sleep and rest under his wing, and yet abound with offspring, and all blessings. (Challoner) ---

Sorrow. St. Jerome, "of idols." This worship of God is odious. ---

Beloved. Solomon. (Houbigant) ---

Yet some explain the Hebrew in the plural, as it is applicable to all the people. The Jews were under great alarms: but were encouraged to hope that God would protect them, and give them a numerous progeny; though, as the country was probably never so well peopled as under Solomon, this may rather refer to the elect, who after the sleep of death (Berthier) shall behold those whom Christ shall acknowledge for his children, (Haydock) and obtain an eternal reward. (St. Hilary) ---

Whatever people may think they have done well, without God's grace, is all useless, and they must begin again; whereas those who are guided by it, perform all with as much ease as they would sleep, and yet merit a reward, which is promised in heaven to the true children who are born to God in the Catholic Church. (Worthington)

Gill: Psa 126:2 - Then was our mouth filled with laughter // and our tongue with singing // then said they among the Heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them

Then was our mouth filled with laughter,.... Who before mourned, and hung their harps on the willows, and could not sing the Lord's song in a strange land; but now, as their hearts were filled, with joy, this was externally and visibly seen in their countenances, and expressed with their mouths and by outward gestures; it was so great, they could not contain it, to which respect is had, Isa 35:10. It may be rendered, "then shall our mouth be filled with laughter" ^q; that is, when we awake, says Arama; or rather when the captivity is returned, either in a literal or in a spiritual sense, both being matter of great joy: the Midrash says, this will be in the world to come, and not in this;

and our tongue with singing; the praises of God, and the songs of Zion;

then said they among the Heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them; it was taken notice of by the Chaldeans, among whom they had been captives, and by all the nations round about: and it was wonderful to them, that Cyrus, an Heathen prince, of his own motion and will, should at once, and without any price or reward, let them go, and send them into their own country to rebuild their temple; and with them the vessels of the Lord's house, that had been taken away by the king of Babylon; and order men to help them, with gold and silver, and goods and cattle, Ezr 1:1. Likewise the conversion of the Jews, and the restoration of them to their own and in the latter day, will be observed by the Gentiles with wonder, and as the work of God, Eze 36:35.