This Psalm is straightforwardly post-exilic (for which see Sefer haWiki) but switches in its narrative perspective between before and after the return from Babylon, between gratitude and longing for return, helped by the profoundly non-linear mechanics of verbal tense and aspect in biblical Hebrew. The Psalmist chooses words associated with joy (s’ḥoq, rinah) that are tinged with other, more complicated emotions. Here’s what came out. 

“תהלים קכ״ו | Psalms 126 (Shir Hama’alot), a poetic translation by Shim’on Menachem” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Shim'on Menachem

Shimon Menachem, a/k/a "Shimonides" is a writer and educator living in St. Louis, Missouri.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17

Works of related interest:

 

תהלים קכ״ו | Psalms 126 (Shir haMaalot), a German translation by Franz Rosenzweig (1921)

תהלים כ״ג | Psalms 23, translation by Shim’on Menachem, melody by Shir Yaakov

תהלים י״ח | Psalms 18, a shir by David translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

תהלים קכ״א | Psalms 121, an “up song” (shir la-ma’alot) translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

תהלים קכ | Psalms 120, an “up song” (shir la-ma’alot) translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi

הברכה שמח תשמח | Blessing for Joy: A Poetic Rendering of Sheva Brakhah no. 6 (Same’aḥ T’samaḥ), by Daniel Kieval

תהלים פ״ב | Psalms 82, the Psalm for Tuesday (translation by Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, z”l)

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