“To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 85:1 Mean?
The sons of Korah open Psalm 85 with gratitude for restoration: God has been favorable to the land and brought back Jacob's captivity. This likely refers to the return from Babylonian exile — a national homecoming after decades of displacement.
"Favourable unto thy land" (ratsah — to be pleased with, to accept) means God's disposition toward Israel has shifted from judgment to favor. The land itself is the object of God's renewed pleasure. What was cursed and desolate is now accepted again.
"Brought back the captivity" (shub shebuth) is the language of reversal — turning the condition around. What was taken is returned. What was bound is released. The exile wasn't permanent because God's favor isn't permanent judgment. The same God who sent them into captivity is the one who brought them back.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you experienced a 'turning' — a season of captivity that God reversed? What was the homecoming like?
- 2.Are you still in exile, waiting for God's favor to return? How does this Psalm encourage you?
- 3.What does it mean that the same God who sent Israel into captivity brought them back?
- 4.How do you receive God's favor after a long season of what felt like His absence?
Devotional
"Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob." After everything — the exile, the destruction, the seventy years in Babylon — God turned it around.
This Psalm breathes the air of homecoming. The people are back. The land is accepted again. The favor has returned. And the psalmist's first response isn't a strategic plan for rebuilding. It's gratitude for the turning.
If you've ever come through a long season of displacement — spiritual exile, relational estrangement, vocational wilderness — and felt the ground shift underneath you, you know this Psalm. The moment when the captivity turns. When the favor returns. When God looks at the land of your life and is pleased with it again.
It doesn't erase the exile. The scars are real. The years in Babylon don't disappear. But the turning is real too. And the turning came not from Israel's effort but from God's favor. He decided to be pleased with the land again. He brought the captivity back. The initiative was His.
If you're still in exile — still waiting for the turning — this Psalm says the God who sent you there is the same God who brings you home. The captivity has a return date. And when God decides it's time, nothing keeps you in Babylon.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land,.... The land of Canaan, which the Lord chose for the people of Israel,…
Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land - Margin, “well pleased with.” The idea is that he had been kind or…
The church, in affliction and distress, is here, by direction from God, making her application to God. So ready is God…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture