Psalm 126:1 NKJV
When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
To Dream of God’s Restoration
My Notes
Psalm 126:1 (NKJV)
“When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream.”
Psalm 126 opens with a memory—the moment God restored His people from captivity. Though Cyrus issued the decree, Scripture makes clear that the Lord Himself turned their captivity. He had sent them into exile not to destroy them, but to refine them like gold in the fire. And when His purpose was complete, He brought them home.
The restoration of Zion was more than political freedom. It meant the revival of worship, the rebuilding of God’s house, and the renewal of covenant life. This was the true joy of their return.
The deliverance was so sudden, so overwhelming, that the people could hardly believe it. Their joy felt unreal—“like those who dream.” This is the language of astonishment, the wonder that comes when God does something so good, so unexpected, that it seems impossible.
Scripture gives many examples of this “too good to be true” joy:
- Jacob could not believe Joseph was alive (Genesis 45:26).
- The disciples struggled to believe the resurrection (Luke 24:11).
- Peter thought his prison escape was a vision (Acts 12:9).
So it is with us. At conversion, God turned our captivity from sin, Satan, and death. Since then, He has repeatedly delivered us from despair, doubt, backsliding, and fear. Each time, the joy has been indescribable.
This verse also points forward. Israel’s return from Babylon foreshadows:
- The future restoration of Israel (Isaiah 52:8).
- The spiritual redemption of God’s people through Christ (Isaiah 1:27).
- The final overthrow of darkness when Christ returns in glory.
On that day, the redeemed will again say, “We are like those who dream.” God’s goodness will exceed every expectation. What He has done before is a promise of what He will do again.
The Lord who rescues us from captivity does nothing halfway. He brings His people from exile into ecstasy, from bondage into blessing, from sorrow into songs of joy.
Prayer
Abba, thank You for being the God who turns my captivity into freedom and sorrow into joy. Help me remember the times You have delivered me, and let those memories strengthen my faith today. Refine me where I need refining, restore me where I need restoring, and renew my hope in Your future promises. Make me like those who dream—astonished by Your goodness, overwhelmed by Your mercy, and confident in Your faithfulness. I ask for this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Key Takeaways
- God Himself turns captivity—He is the Author of deliverance.
- His people may experience discipline, but never destruction; exile refines, not ruins.
- When God restores, the joy is overwhelming—like waking into a dream.
- Past deliverances are reminders and guarantees of future grace.
- The ultimate fulfillment of this verse awaits Christ’s return, when all captivity ends forever.
Cross‑References (NKJV summaries)
- Genesis 45:26 — Jacob can hardly believe the news that Joseph is alive.
- Luke 24:11 — The disciples initially think the resurrection report is unbelievable.
- Acts 12:9 — Peter thinks his angelic rescue from prison is only a vision.
- Isaiah 52:8 — God promises to restore Zion and bring His people back.
- Psalm 14:7 — A prayer for God to restore His people from captivity.
- Isaiah 1:27 — Zion will be redeemed with justice and righteousness.
- Romans 11:15 — Israel’s future restoration will be like life from the dead.
Meditation Questions
- What “captivity” has God delivered me from in the past? How did that deliverance feel?
- What blessings has God given me that felt “too good to be true”?
- How does remembering past deliverances strengthen my faith for today?
- What areas of my heart still need refining, like gold in the fire?
Proverb for Today
Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches— Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, And say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, And profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9 NKJV
Closing
And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:32 NKJV
Bill
Posted on 12/30/2025 by Bill Stephens
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Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 126:1 recalls the overwhelming joy Israel felt when God restored them from captivity—a deliverance so sudden and gracious it seemed like a dream. Though Cyrus issued the decree, the Lord Himself turned their captivity, refining rather than destroying them. This restoration foreshadows spiritual redemption in Christ and the future renewal of God’s people. Remembering past deliverances strengthens faith, for God repeatedly brings His people from sorrow into joy, from bondage into freedom, and from despair into wonder.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.” Being in trouble, the gracious pilgrims remember for their comfort times of national woe which were succeeded by remarkable deliverances. Then sorrow was gone like a dream, and the joy which followed was so great that it seemed too good to be true, and they feared that it must be the vision of an idle brain. So sudden and so overwhelming was their joy that they felt like men out of themselves, ecstatic, or in a trance. The captivity had been great, and great was the deliverance; for the great God himself had wrought it: it seemed too good to be actually true.
It was not the freedom of an individual which the Lord in mercy had wrought, but of all Zion, of the whole nation; and this was reason enough for overflowing gladness. We need not instance the histories which illustrate this verse in connection with literal Israel, but it is well to remember how often it has been true to ourselves. Let us look to the prison houses from which we have been set free. Ah, me, what captives we have been! At our first conversion, what a turning again of captivity we experienced. Never shall that hour be forgotten. Joy! Joy! Joy! Since then, from multiplied troubles, from depression of spirit, from miserable backsliding, from grievous doubt, we have been emancipated, and we are not able to describe the bliss which followed each emancipation.
This verse will have a higher fulfillment in the day of the final overthrow of the powers of darkness when the Lord shall come forth for the salvation and glorification of his redeemed. Then in a fuller sense than even at Pentecost our old men shall see visions, and our young men shall dream dreams: yea, all things shall be so wonderful, so far beyond all expectation, that those who behold them shall ask themselves whether it be not all a dream. The past is ever a sure prognostic of the future; the thing which has been is the thing that shall be: we shall again and again find ourselves amazed at the wonderful goodness of the Lord. Let our hearts gratefully remember the former loving kindnesses of the Lord: we were sadly low, sorely distressed, and completely past hope, but when Jehovah appeared, he did not merely lift us out of despondency; he raised us into wondering happiness. The Lord who alone turns our captivity does nothing by halves: those whom he saves from hell he brings to heaven. He turns exile into ecstasy, and banishment into bliss.
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Enduring Word
When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion: The psalmist sang of a time when God set His people free from their captivity, and they were restored to Jerusalem (Zion). Most associate this with the return from exile under Ezra and Nehemiah, but it is also possible that it describes David’s return from his brief exile from Jerusalem in Absalom’s coup (2 Samuel 15-19).
i. As one of the Songs of Ascents, we imagine these words in the mouths of pilgrims on the way to or having arrived at Jerusalem. Perhaps they considered their seasons away from Jerusalem as a symbolic captivity, and they celebrated the larger return from exile and their current, personal experience of such. (Guzik)
We were like those who dream: With power and beauty, the poet described the sense of happy, grateful astonishment at the power and goodness of God in bringing back His people from the captivity of Zion. It seemed too good, too great to be true, but it was true. (Guzik)
i. “We could not believe our own eyes and ears, but thought it to be but a dream or delusion of our own fancies; as is usual in matters of great joy, as Genesis 45:26, Luke 24:11, Acts 12:9.” (Poole)
ii. “The people knew about the promises of restoration, but when the actual moment of restoration came, it was an overwhelming experience. They were like those who dreamed.’ It all happened too quickly and seemed like a mirage.” (VanGemeren)
iii. “It remained a vivid national memory (cf. the lively paraphrase in Today’s English Version: ‘it was like a dream! How we laughed, how we sang for joy…how happy we were’), as inspiring as the outbreaks of revival in the Christian church.” (Kidner)
iv. At times, Christian revival has been described in these terms. J. Edwin Orr’s book All Your Need records the description of J. Oswald Sanders of the 1936 revival at Ngaruawahia, New Zealand: “For some time before Easter, a spirit of unusual expectancy had been kindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, but the reality far exceeded the expectation. Those of us who were responsible for the conduct of the camp had the great joy of sitting back and seeing God work in a sovereign way. We were as men that dreamed.”
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Albert Barnes
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion – Margin, as in Hebrew, “returned the returning of Zion.” The Hebrew word, which is rendered in the text captivity means properly return; and then, those returning. The ancient versions render it captivity. The reference clearly is to those who were returning to Zion, and the psalmist fixes his eye on them as returning, and immediately says that it was the Lord who had thus restored them. The whole was to be traced to God.
We were like them that dream – The Latin Vulgate and the Septuagint render this, “we were comforted.” The meaning is, “It seemed like a dream; we could hardly realize that it was so; it was so marvelous, so good, so full of joy, that we could scarcely believe it was real.” This state of mind is not uncommon, when, in sudden and overpowering joy, we ask whether it can be real; whether it is not all a dream. We fear that it is; we apprehend that it will all vanish away like a dream.
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John Gill
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion,…. Or returned the Jews from their captivity in Babylon; who are called Zion, from the city of David, built on Mount Zion, which was in Judea, and adjoined to Jerusalem, the metropolis of the kingdom; and because they were the godly who were concerned for Zion in a spiritual sense, or the church of God, and the interest of religion, whose spirits the Lord stirred up to come out of Babylon, upon the proclamation by Cyrus, when those that were more worldly and carnal stayed behind; as also because the chief mercy in returning the captives was the rebuilding the temple on Mount Zion, and the restoration of religious worship; which gave the religious captives in Babylon great concern, Psalm 137:1. This deliverance of the captives, though it was by Cyrus as an instrument, yet it was the Lord’s work; which he employed him in, and stirred him up to do, and therefore is ascribed to him. And though this is expressed in the past tense, yet it may be put for the future; and be considered as a prophecy of it, and which the following word seems to confirm; and especially the prayer, Psalm 126:4; for the return of the captivity seems to require it should: and may not only literally respect the return of the captives in Babylon, but the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, and their deliverance from their present captivity; which is expressed sometimes by the Lord’s bringing again Zion, and returning the captivity of the Jews, and their being turned to the Lord, Isaiah 52:8; and may be applied to spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ, of which the deliverance from Babylon was a type; and is sometimes expressed in the same language, Psalm 14:7; and the people redeemed are often signified by Zion, and are by nature captives to sin, Satan, and the law; from whence they are redeemed by Christ, whose work alone it is, Isaiah 1:27;
we were like them that dream; or “shall be”; that is, as persons that know not whether they are asleep or awake; and whether what they see and enjoy is in reality or only a vision, as Peter’s deliverance from prison was to him, Acts 12:9; When the proclamation by Cyrus was first heard of by the Jews, and they had their liberty upon it, they could hardly tell whether it was a real thing or a vision, and could scarcely believe it for joy; it seemed too good news to be true, as the news of Joseph’s being alive was to Jacob, Genesis 45:26; and so the appearance of Christ, his resurrection, and redemption by him, were to the disciples, Luke 24:11. The Targum is, “we were like the sick that are recovered;” which sense the word has in Job 39:4; and will be the case of the Jews, when they are converted; who will be recovered out of the sick state and condition in which they now are, and have all their diseases healed, and sins forgiven; yea, their conversion will be as life from the dead, a resurrection of them from their graves, Romans 11:15. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it, “as those that are comforted”; and the Syriac version, “as those that rejoice”; each of the seasons mentioned being times of comfort and joy: Joseph Kimchi interprets it of the passing away and forgetfulness of affliction and trouble at the time of redemption, like a dream that flies away upon awaking.
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Matthew Henry
The deliverance God has wrought for them: He turned again the captivity of Zion. It is possible that Zion may be in captivity for the punishment of her degeneracy, but her captivity shall be turned again when the end is answered, and the work designed by it is effected. Cyrus, for reasons of state, proclaimed liberty to God’s captives, and yet it was the Lord’s doing, according to his word, many years before. God sent them into captivity, not as dross is put into the fire to be consumed, but as gold to be refined. Observe, the release of Israel is called the turning again of the captivity of Zion, the holy hill, where God’s tabernacle and dwelling-place were; for the restoring of their sacred interests, and the reviving of the public exercise of their religion, were the most valuable advantages of their return out of captivity.
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