Turn us back to you, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.
Read Chapter 5
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Convert. Thy grace must work upon our hearts, (Calmet) before we can expect redress, (Haydock) and an end of our banishment. (Tirinus) (Grotius)
Beginning, when our fathers observed the law. (St. Thomas Aquinas) (Menochius) See chap. xxxi. 18.; St. Augustine, City of God ii., and iv. (Worthington)
Thirdly, a prayer is prolonged. As stated: "Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old!" And as the prophet Jeremiah elsewhere proclaims: "bring me back that I may be restored, for thou art the Lord my God." (Jer: 31:18).
On the contrary, the prophet Zechariah 1:3 proclaims: "Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you."
Yet, it must be said that each proclamation is true, due to the fact that a preparation of one's will is demanded for deeds of merits, and for an infusion of divine grace.
Then: "Renew our days as of old!" Thus Job 29:2 exclaims: "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me."
