Lamentations 5:21

21 Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;^[a] renew our days as in former times,

Lamentations 5:21 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:21

Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned
This prayer expresses the sense they had of their backslidings from God, and distance from him; of their inability to turn themselves to the Lord, or convert themselves; and of their need of divine grace, and of the efficacy of that to effect it; see ( Jeremiah 31:18 ) ; for this is to be understood not only of returning them to their own land, and to the external worship of God in it; but of turning them to the Lord by true and perfect repentance, as the Targum; of the conversion of their hearts and the reformation of their lives:

renew our days as of old;
for good, as the Targum adds. The request is, that their good days might be renewed; that they might enjoy the same peace and prosperity, and all good things in their own land, as they had done in days and years past: first they pray for repentance; then restoration.

Lamentations 5:21 In-Context

19 You, Lord, are enthroned forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation.

20 Why have You forgotten us forever, abandoned us for [our] entire lives?

21 Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return; renew our days as in former times,

22 unless You have completely rejected us and are intensely angry with us.

Footnotes

• [a] Jr 15:19; 31:18