Mazmur 97:12

97:12 You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord!

Give thanks to his holy name. ¹ 

Yesaya 61:10

61:10 I ²  will greatly rejoice ³  in the Lord;

I will be overjoyed because of my God. ⁴ 

For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;

he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication. ⁵ 

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. ⁶ 

Yesaya 4:4

4:4 At that time ⁷  the sovereign master ⁸  will wash the excrement ⁹  from Zion’s women,

he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst, ¹⁰ 

as he comes to judge

and to bring devastation. ¹¹ 

[97:12]  ¹ tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זָכַר (zakhar, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 6:5; 30:4. The Lord’s “name” is “holy” in the sense that it is a reminder of his uniqueness and greatness.

[61:10]  ² 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]  ³ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

[61:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “my being is happy in my God”; NAB “in my God is the joy of my soul.”

[61:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “robe of vindication”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “robe of righteousness.”

[61:10]  ⁶ 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.

[4:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”

[4:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[4:4]  ⁹ tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).

[4:4]  ¹⁰ sn See 1:21 for a related concept.

[4:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (ba’ar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”