Bible Strands
Psalms 126:5
Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The corporate voice of Israel, mid-plea for the return of captives (v. 4), speaking to the LORD in the gap between exile and restoration.
The words — dim'ah (tears) and rinah (shout of joy) form the antithesis: the same hands that weep while sowing will be the ones that shout while reaping.
The thread — The sowing/reaping pattern recurs in Galatians 6:9 (persevere, you will reap in due time) and Isaiah 35:10 (the redeemed return with singing); John 16:20 mirrors the grief-to-joy reversal.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to keep doing the work of sowing while still in the season of tears, without needing to see the harvest yet.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Cross-references
- Galatians 6:9 Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Isaiah 35:10 So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
- John 16:20 Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
- Joel 2:23 Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God, for He has given you the autumn rains for your vindication. He sends you showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
- Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Jeremiah 31:9 They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.
- Psalms 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
- Joel 2:17 Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the portico and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
- 2 Corinthians 7:8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it—for I see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time—