Psalms 107:3

And gathered them out of the lands -The countries where they were scattered. In the times of the captivity the people were not all taken to one place, or did not all abide in one place. In the long exile - of seventy years - in Babylon, they would naturally be much scattered in the different provinces; and the attempt to collect them together, to restore them again to their native land, might be attended with much difficulty. From the east ... -From all quarters; from the places where they were scattered abroad. That is, one taking his position in Babylon would see them dispersed from that place as a center into all the surrounding country.