Mazmur 28:7-8

28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; ¹ 

I trust in him with all my heart. ² 

I am rescued ³  and my heart is full of joy; ⁴ 

I will sing to him in gratitude. ⁵ 

28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; ⁶ 

he protects and delivers his chosen king. ⁷ 

Mazmur 149:2

149:2 Let Israel rejoice in their Creator!

Let the people ⁸  of Zion delight in their king! ⁹ 

Amsal 17:22

17:22 A cheerful heart ¹⁰  brings good healing, ¹¹ 

but a crushed spirit ¹²  dries up the bones. ¹³ 

Yesaya 6:7-8

6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” ¹⁴  6:8 I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” ¹⁵  I answered, “Here I am, send me!”

Yesaya 12:1-3

12:1 At that time ¹⁶  you will say:

“I praise you, O Lord,

for even though you were angry with me,

your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ¹⁷ 

I will trust in him ¹⁸  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ¹⁹ 

he has become my deliverer.” ²⁰ 

12:3 Joyfully you will draw water

from the springs of deliverance. ²¹ 

Yesaya 35:1-4

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ²² 

let the wilderness ²³  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

35:2 Let it richly bloom; ²⁴ 

let it rejoice and shout with delight! ²⁵ 

It is given the grandeur ²⁶  of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ²⁷ 

35:4 Tell those who panic, ²⁸ 

“Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” ²⁹ 

Yesaya 61:10

61:10 I ³⁰  will greatly rejoice ³¹  in the Lord;

I will be overjoyed because of my God. ³² 

For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;

he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. ³³ 

I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;

I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry. ³⁴ 

Yoel 2:23

2:23 Citizens of Zion, ³⁵  rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ³⁶ 

For he has given to you the early rains ³⁷  as vindication.

He has sent ³⁸  to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains ³⁹  as formerly.

Yoel 2:2

2:2 It will be ⁴⁰  a day of dreadful darkness, ⁴¹ 

a day of foreboding storm clouds, ⁴² 

like blackness ⁴³  spread over the mountains.

It is a huge and powerful army ⁴⁴  –

there has never been anything like it ever before,

and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ⁴⁵ 

Kolose 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁴⁶  brothers and sisters ⁴⁷  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁴⁸  from God our Father! ⁴⁹ 

Kolose 1:8-9

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ⁵⁰  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ⁵¹  to fill ⁵²  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Filipi 3:4

3:4 – though mine too are significant. ⁵³  If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, ⁵⁴  I have more:

[28:7]  ¹ tn Heb “The Lord [is] my strength and my shield.”

[28:7]  ² tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”

[28:7]  ³ tn Or “I am helped.”

[28:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “and my heart exults.”

[28:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.

[28:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord [is] strength to them” (or perhaps, “to him”). The form לָמוֹ (lamo, “to them/him”) is probably a corruption of an original לְעַמוֹ (lÿ’amo, “to his people”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 236), perhaps due to quiescence of the letter ayin (ע; see P. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 55). Note the reference to the Lord’s “people” in the next verse.

[28:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.

[149:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “sons.”

[149:2]  ⁹ sn The Lord is the king here, as the parallelism in the previous line (“their creator”) indicates.

[17:22]  ¹⁰ sn Heb “a heart of rejoicing”; KJV “a merry heart”; NAB, NASB “a joyful heart.” This attributive genitive refers to the mind or psyche. A happy and healthy outlook on life brings healing.

[17:22]  ¹¹ tc The word “healing” is a hapax legomenon; some have suggested changes, such as to Arabic jihatu (“face”) or to גְּוִיָּה (gÿviah, “body”) as in the Syriac and Tg. Prov 17:22, but the MT makes sense as it is and should be retained.

[17:22]  tn Heb “it causes good a healing.” This means it promotes healing.

[17:22]  ¹² sn The “crushed spirit” refers to one who is depressed (cf. NAB “a depressed spirit”). “Crushed” is figurative (an implied comparison) for the idea that one’s psyche or will to go on is beaten down by circumstances.

[17:22]  ¹³ sn The “bones” figuratively represent the whole body encased in a boney framework (metonymy of subject). “Fat bones” in scripture means a healthy body (3:8; 15:30; 16:24), but “dried up” bones signify unhealthiness and lifelessness (cf. Ezek 37:1-4).

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “ritually cleansed,” or “atoned for” (NIV).

[6:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for us.” The plural pronoun refers to the Lord, the seraphs, and the rest of the heavenly assembly.

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[12:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ¹⁸ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[12:3]  ²¹ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); CEV “victory.”

[12:3]  sn Water is here a metaphor for renewed life; the springs symbolize the restoration of God’s favor.

[35:1]  ²² tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

[35:1]  ²³ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[35:2]  ²⁴ tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).

[35:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and let it rejoice, yes [with] rejoicing and shouting.” גִּילַת (gilat) may be an archaic feminine nominal form (see GKC 421 §130.b).

[35:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.

[35:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

[35:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.

[35:4]  ²⁹ tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.

[61:10]  ³⁰ sn The speaker in vv. 10-11 is not identified, but it is likely that the personified nation (or perhaps Zion) responds here to the Lord’s promise of restoration.

[61:10]  ³¹ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[61:10]  ³² tn Heb “my being is happy in my God”; NAB “in my God is the joy of my soul.”

[61:10]  ³³ tn Heb “robe of vindication”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “robe of righteousness.”

[61:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “like a bridegroom [who] acts like a priest [by wearing] a turban, and like a bride [who] wears her jewelry.” The words “I look” are supplied for stylistic reasons and clarification.

[2:23]  ³⁵ tn Heb “sons of Zion.”

[2:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”

[2:23]  ³⁷ tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק , moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.

[2:23]  ³⁸ tn Heb “caused to come down.”

[2:23]  ³⁹ sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.

[2:2]  ⁴⁰ tn The phrase “It will be” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.

[2:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “darkness and gloom.” These two terms probably form a hendiadys here. This picture recalls the imagery of the supernatural darkness in Egypt during the judgments of the exodus (Exod 10:22). These terms are also frequently used as figures (metonymy of association) for calamity and divine judgment (Isa 8:22; 59:9; Jer 23:12; Zeph 1:15). Darkness is often a figure (metonymy of association) for death, dread, distress and judgment (BDB 365 s.v. חשֶׁךְ 3).

[2:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “a day of cloud and darkness.”

[2:2]  ⁴³ tc The present translation here follows the proposed reading שְׁחֹר (shÿkhor, “blackness”) rather than the MT שַׁחַר (shakhar, “morning”). The change affects only the vocalization; the Hebrew consonants remain unchanged. Here the context calls for a word describing darkness. The idea of morning or dawn speaks instead of approaching light, which does not seem to fit here. The other words in the verse (e.g., “darkness,” “gloominess,” “cloud,” “heavy overcast”) all emphasize the negative aspects of the matter at hand and lead the reader to expect a word like “blackness” rather than “dawn.” However, NIrV paraphrases the MT nicely: “A huge army of locusts is coming. They will spread across the mountains like the sun when it rises.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “A huge and powerful people”; KJV, ASV “a great people and a strong.” Many interpreters understand Joel 2 to describe an invasion of human armies, either in past history (e.g., the Babylonian invasion of Palestine in the sixth century b.c.) or in an eschatological setting. More probably, however, the language of this chapter referring to “people” and “armies” is a hypocatastic description of the locusts of chapter one. Cf. TEV “The great army of locusts advances like darkness.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “it will not be repeated for years of generation and generation.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁴⁹ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[1:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ⁵¹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ⁵² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[3:4]  ⁵³ tn Grk “though I have reason for confidence even in the flesh.”

[3:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “flesh.”