Exodus 15:20

15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand-drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with hand-drums and with dances. ¹ 

Psalms 30:11

30:11 Then you turned my lament into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy. ² 

Psalms 149:3

149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing!

Let them sing praises to him to the accompaniment of the tambourine and harp!

Psalms 150:4

150:4 Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing!

Praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!

Ecclesiastes 3:4

3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Jeremiah 30:19

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ³ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ⁴ 

I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

Jeremiah 33:11

33:11 Once again there will be sounds ⁵  of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. ⁶  Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the Lord and will say, “Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all. For the Lord is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.” ⁷  For I, the Lord, affirm ⁸  that I will restore the land to what it was ⁹  in days of old.’ ¹⁰ 

¹ sn See J. N. Easton, “Dancing in the Old Testament,” ExpTim 86 (1975): 136-40.

² sn Covered me with joy. “Joy” probably stands metonymically for festive attire here.

³ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

⁴ sn Compare Jer 29:6.

⁴ tn Heb “33:10 Thus says the Lord, ‘There will again be heard in this place of which you are saying [masc. pl.], “It is a ruin without people and without animals,” [that is] in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate without people and without inhabitants and without animals 33:11 the sound of….” The long run-on sentence in Hebrew has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style.

⁵ sn What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

⁶ sn This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 136 where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the Lord’s continuing providence).

⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

⁸ tn Or “I will restore the fortunes of the land.”

⁹ tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.