Psalm 126:5 (KJV)

What does this mean?

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. The image is of a farmer planting seed while weeping — hard, painful work done in a hard season — and of a harvest that turns the weeping into singing. The historical setting is not fully settled: it is often read as a song of the people returning from exile, though the exact occasion is debated.

What does this teach us?

Tears and hope are not opposites; the sowing itself is an act of faith. God does not promise that the tears will stop before the planting, but that the harvest will change the song. What is planted in sorrow can be gathered in joy, because God is the one who brings the harvest.

How can we apply this?

Keep planting even while you are weeping — the prayer, the apology, the faithful work, the kind word. Do not wait until you feel joyful to do the next right thing. And remember a past harvest God brought from a tearful season, and let it steady you in this one.

Related KJV passages

• “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

  Psalm 30:5

• “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

  Galatians 6:9

• “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”

  Romans 15:13