Kidung Agung 3:11

3:11 Come out, O maidens of Zion,

and gaze upon King Solomon!

He is wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him

on his wedding day,

on the most joyous day of his life! ¹ 

Mazmur 45:9

45:9 Princesses ²  are among your honored guests, ³ 

your bride ⁴  stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. ⁵ 

Yesaya 54:5

54:5 For your husband is the one who made you –

the Lord who commands armies is his name.

He is your protector, ⁶  the Holy One of Israel. ⁷ 

He is called “God of the entire earth.”

Yesaya 62:5

62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,

so your sons ⁸  will marry you.

As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,

so your God will rejoice over you.

Yehezkiel 16:8

16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing ⁹  that you had reached the age for love. ¹⁰  I spread my cloak ¹¹  over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

Hosea 2:19-20

2:19 I will commit myself to you ¹²  forever;

I will commit myself to you in ¹³  righteousness and justice,

in steadfast love and tender compassion.

2:20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness;

then ¹⁴  you will acknowledge ¹⁵  the Lord.” ¹⁶ 

Yohanes 3:29

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ¹⁷  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ¹⁸ 

Yohanes 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ¹⁹  at night ²⁰  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ²¹  that you do unless God is with him.”

Kolose 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²²  brothers and sisters ²³  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²⁴  from God our Father! ²⁵ 

Wahyu 19:7-8

19:7 Let us rejoice ²⁶  and exult

and give him glory,

because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” ²⁷  (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). ²⁸ 

Wahyu 21:2

21:2 And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.

Wahyu 21:9-10

The New Jerusalem Descends

21:9 Then ²⁹  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, ³⁰  saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!” 21:10 So ³¹  he took me away in the Spirit ³²  to a huge, majestic mountain ³³  and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “the day of the joy of his heart.” In the genitive construct phrase וּבְיוֹם שִׂמְחַת (uvÿyom simkhat, “the day of joy”) the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) functions as a descriptive genitive of attribute (attributive genitive), that is, the genitive identifies the outstanding quality of the construct noun: “the joyous day” or “the day characterized by joy.” In the second genitive construct phrase שִׂמְחַת לִבּוֹ (simkhat livvo, “joy of his heart”) the noun לִבּוֹ (“his heart”) is a subjective genitive: “his heart rejoices.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is a synecdoche of part for the whole (= Solomon himself), that is, “the day Solomon greatly rejoiced” or “the day of Solomon’s great joy.”

[45:9]  ² tn Heb “daughters of kings.”

[45:9]  ³ tn Heb “valuable ones.” The form is feminine plural.

[45:9]  ⁴ tn This rare Hebrew noun apparently refers to the king’s bride, who will soon be queen (see Neh 2:6). The Aramaic cognate is used of royal wives in Dan 5:2-3, 23.

[45:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “a consort stands at your right hand, gold of Ophir.”

[45:9]  sn Gold from Ophir is also mentioned in Isa 13:12 and Job 28:16. The precise location of Ophir is uncertain; Arabia, India, East Africa, and South Africa have all been suggested as options.

[54:5]  ⁶ tn Or “redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[54:5]  ⁷ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[62:5]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).

[16:8]  ⁹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.

[16:8]  ¹⁰ tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.

[16:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).

[2:19]  ¹² tn Heb “I will betroth you to me” (so NIV) here and in the following lines. Cf. NRSV “I will take you for my wife forever.”

[2:19]  ¹³ tn The preposition בְּ (bet), which is repeated throughout 2:19-20 [21-22], denotes price paid (BDB 90 s.v. בְּ III.3; e.g., Ezek 3:14). The text contains an allusion to the payment of bridal gifts. The Lord will impute the moral character to Israel that will be necessary for a successful covenant relationship (contra 4:1).

[2:20]  ¹⁴ tn The vav consecutive on the suffix conjugation verb וְיָדַעַתְּ (véyada’at, “then you will know”) introduces a result clause (cf. NASB, CEV).

[2:20]  ¹⁵ tn Or “know.” The term יָדַע (yada’, “know, acknowledge”) is often used in covenant contexts. It can refer to the suzerain’s acknowledgment of his covenant obligations to his vassal or to the vassal’s acknowledgment of his covenant obligations to his suzerain. When used in reference to a vassal, the verb “know” is metonymical (cause for effect) for “obey.” See H. Huffmann, “The Treaty Background of Hebrew ya„daà,” BASOR 181 (1966): 31-37.

[2:20]  ¹⁶ tc The MT reads יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”); however, many Hebrew mss read כִּי אָנִי (ki ’ani, “that it is I”), as also reflected in the Latin Vulgate (cf. CEV “know who I am”).

[3:29]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

[3:29]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  sn Possibly Nicodemus came…at night because he was afraid of public association with Jesus, or he wanted a lengthy discussion without interruptions; no explanation for the timing of the interview is given by the author. But the timing is significant for John in terms of the light-darkness motif – compare John 9:4, 11:10, 13:30 (especially), 19:39, and 21:3. Out of the darkness of his life and religiosity Nicodemus came to the Light of the world. The author probably had multiple meanings or associations in mind here, as is often the case.

[3:2]  ²¹ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[1:2]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ²⁵ 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.

[19:7]  ²⁶ tn This verb and the next two verbs are hortatory subjunctives (giving exhortations).

[19:8]  ²⁷ tn On the term translated “fine linen,” BDAG 185 s.v. βύσσινος states, “made of fine linen, subst. τὸ β. fine linen, linen garment…Rv 18:12…16; 19:8, 14.”

[19:8]  ²⁸ sn This phrase is treated as a parenthetical explanation by the author.

[21:9]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[21:9]  ³⁰ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.” See also v. 15.

[21:10]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation.

[21:10]  ³² tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).

[21:10]  ³³ tn Grk “to a mountain great and high.”