Psalm 126:3

The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 126:3. The Lord hath done great things for us — And we should be very ungrateful if we did not thankfully acknowledge it, and praise him for the singular benefits, which excite even the wonder of strangers; for the Lord hath not only restored our liberty, but manifested the greatness of his power in affecting this our deliverance; whereof we are glad — Which justly fills us with joy and triumph.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

126:1-3 It is good to observe how God's deliverances of the church are for us, that we may rejoice in them. And how ought redemption from the wrath to come, from the power of sin and of Satan, to be valued! The sinner convinced of his guilt and danger, when by looking to a crucified Saviour he receives peace to his conscience, and power to break off his sins, often can scarcely believe that the prospect which opens to him is a reality.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord hath done great things for us - All that the people around us say is true. We see it; we feel it; we acknowledge it. Those to whom this pertained would see it more clearly than those who had merely observed it. A surrounding world may see in the conversion of a man, in his being turned from sin, in the influence of religion upon him, in his comfort, calmness, and peace, that "the Lord has done great things" for him; but he himself, while he responds most fully to what they say, will see this more clearly than they do. There is more in his redemption, his conversion, his peace and joy, than they do or can perceive, and with emphasis he himself will say, "The Lord has done great things for me."

Whereof we are glad - It fills our souls with joy. If this is understood of the returning Hebrews - coming back from the captivity in Babylon - all must see how appropriate is the language; if it be applied to a sinner returning to God, it is no less suitable, for there is nothing that so fills the mind with joy as a true conversion to God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 126

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

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.

turned again the captivity—that is, restored from it (Job 39:12; Ps 14:7; Pr 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 (De 30:2, 3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lord hath done great things for us,.... These words are generally supposed to be the words of the Jews, taking up those of the Gentiles, and confirming them; acknowledging that the Lord had done great things for them indeed; which, had they not owned, they would have been exceeding ungrateful; had they been silent concerning them, the stones would have cried out, and the very Heathens condemned them. But I see not why they may not be thought to be the words of those among the Heathens continued; declaring that the great things done were not for the Jews only, but for them also; as the great redemption by Christ is of persons out of every tongue, people, and nation; for he is the propitiation, not for the Jews only, but for the sins of the whole world; and having this in view, thus they express themselves. The work of redemption is a great thing of itself; the produce of great wisdom; the effect of great love; procured at a great price, for great sinners, by a great Saviour; and is not only a deliverance from sin, Satan, and the law; but contains many great and glorious blessings in it, as justification, remission of sins, adoption, and eternal life;

whereof we are glad; that those great things are done without us, finished by the Redeemer himself; that they are so great and glorious, so rich and plenteous, so full and free, and suitable to us; and done for us sinners of the Gentiles, so unworthy of them, who are by nature children of wrath as others.

Geneva Study Bible

The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. The community appropriates the words of the nations, and recalls the joy of that wonderful time: Jehovah did great things for us: we were glad.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - The Lord hath done great things for us. "What the heathen said was true - the Lord hath indeed done great things for us." Whereof we are glad. For these great things we rejoice and give thanks. The first part of the psalm - the absolutely pure joy-song - here ends; and the second part - the mixed joy and sorrow - begins. Psalm 126:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When passages like Isaiah 1:9; Genesis 47:25, or others where והיינו is perf. consec., are appealed to in order to prove that היינוּ כּחלמים may signify erimus quasi somniantes, they are instances that are different in point of syntax. Any other rendering than that of the lxx is here impossible, viz.: Ἐν τῷ ἐπιστρέψαι κύριον τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Σιὼν ἐγενήθημεν ὡς παρακεκλημένοι (כּנחמים? - Jerome correctly, quasi somniantes). It is, however, just as erroneous when Jerome goes on to render: tunc implebitur risu os nostrum; for it is true the future after אז has a future signification in passages where the context relates to matters of future history, as in Psalm 96:12; Zephaniah 3:9, but it always has the signification of the imperfect after the key-note of the historical past has once been struck, Exodus 15:1; Joshua 8:30; Joshua 10:12; 1 Kings 11:7; 1 Kings 16:21; 2 Kings 15:16; Job 38:21; it is therefore, tunc implebatur. It is the exiles at home again upon the soil of their fatherland who here cast back a glance into the happy time when their destiny suddenly took another turn, by the God of Israel disposing the heart of the conqueror of Babylon to set them at liberty, and to send them to their native land in an honourable manner. שׁיבת is not equivalent to שׁבית, nor is there any necessity to read it thus (Olshausen, Bצttcher, and Hupfeld). שׁיבה (from שׁוּב, like בּיאה, קימה) signifies the return, and then those returning; it is, certainly, an innovation of this very late poet. When Jahve brought home the homeward-bound ones of Zion - the poet means to say - we were as dreamers. Does he mean by this that the long seventy years' term of affliction lay behind us like a vanished dream (Joseph Kimchi), or that the redemption that broke upon us so suddenly seemed to us at first not to be a reality but a beautiful dream? The tenor of the language favours the latter: as those not really passing through such circumstances, but only dreaming. Then - the poet goes on to say - our mouth was filled with laughter (Job 8:21) and our tongue with a shout of joy, inasmuch, namely, as the impression of the good fortune which contrasted so strongly with our trouble hitherto, compelled us to open our mouth wide in order that our joy might break forth in a full stream, and our jubilant mood impelled our tongue to utter shouts of joy, which knew no limit because of the inexhaustible matter of our rejoicing. And how awe-inspiring was Israel's position at that time among the peoples! and what astonishment the marvellous change of Israel's lot produced upon them! Even the heathen confessed that it was Jahve's work, and that He had done great things for them (Joel 2:20., 1 Samuel 12:24) - the glorious predictions of Isaiah, as in Psalm 45:14; Psalm 52:10, and elsewhere, were being fulfilled. The church on its part seals that confession coming from the mouth of the heathen. This it is that made them so joyful, that God had acknowledged them by such a mighty deed.