Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
This Psalm was written after the Jewish people returned from Babylon, not as prophecy of what was to come. The poet exhorts the returning captives to give thanks, making plain that God Himself brought them home, not chance or the favor of men. The abstract noun captivity stands for the concrete captives of Zion.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 126:1-6
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. So full were they of joy that they could not contain themselves. They must express their joy and yet they could not find expression for it. Irrepressible mirth could do no other than laugh, for speech was far too dull a thing for it.
While the people of Israel were captives in Babylon their harps were hung upon the willow-trees, for then God called to weeping and mourning, then he mourned unto them and they lamented; but now that their captivity is turned they resume their harps; Providence pipes to them, and they dance. Thus must we accommodate ourselves to all the dispensations of Providence and be suitably affected with them.
Commenting on Psalm 126:1-3