1 Chronicles 16:37-42

David Appoints Worship Leaders

16:37 David ¹  left Asaph and his colleagues there before the ark of the Lord’s covenant to serve before the ark regularly and fulfill each day’s requirements, ²  16:38 including Obed-Edom and sixty-eight colleagues. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah were gatekeepers. 16:39 Zadok the priest and his fellow priests served ³  before the Lord’s tabernacle at the worship center ⁴  in Gibeon, 16:40 regularly offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the altar for burnt sacrifice, morning and evening, according to what is prescribed in the law of the Lord which he charged Israel to observe. ⁵  16:41 Joining them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord. (For his loyal love endures!) ⁶  16:42 Heman and Jeduthun were in charge of the music, including the trumpets, cymbals, and the other musical instruments used in praising God. The sons of Jeduthun guarded the entrance. ⁷ 

1 Chronicles 23:30

23:30 They also stood in a designated place ⁸  every morning and offered thanks and praise to the Lord. They also did this in the evening

Nehemiah 9:5

9:5 The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”

“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ⁹  May your glorious name ¹⁰  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Luke 2:37

2:37 She had lived as a widow since then for eighty-four years. ¹¹  She never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. ¹² 

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “according to the matter of the day in its day.”

³ tn The word “served” is supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Or “high place.”

⁵ tn Heb “which he commanded Israel.”

⁶ tn Perhaps this refers to the refrain of their songs of praise (see Ps 136). In this case one could translate, “to give thanks to the Lord with songs using the refrain, ‘For his loyal love endures.’”

⁷ tn Heb “and with them, Heman and Jeduthun, trumpets and cymbals for sounding, and the instrument of song of God, and the sons of Jeduthun [were] at the gate.”

⁸ tn Heb “and to stand.”

⁹ tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O LORD our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Ps 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the LORD.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the name of your glory.”

¹¹ tn Grk “living with her husband for seven years from her virginity and she was a widow for eighty four years.” The chronology of the eighty-four years is unclear, since the final phrase could mean “she was widowed until the age of eighty-four” (so BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.α). However, the more natural way to take the syntax is as a reference to the length of her widowhood, the subject of the clause, in which case Anna was about 105 years old (so D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:251-52; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 123-24).

¹² sn The statements about Anna worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day make her extreme piety clear.