Psalms 149:2

149:2 Let Israel rejoice in their Creator!

Let the people ¹  of Zion delight in their king! ² 

Lamentations 4:2

ב (Bet)

4:2 The precious sons of Zion

were worth their weight in gold –

Alas! – but now they are treated like ³  broken clay pots,

made by a potter. ⁴ 

Zechariah 9:13

9:13 I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow! ⁵  I will stir up your sons, Zion, against yours, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, ⁶  like a warrior’s sword.

Galatians 4:26-27

4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, ⁷  and she is our mother. 4:27 For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; ⁸ 

break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,

because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than those of the woman who has a husband.” ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “sons.”

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

³ tn Heb “they are regarded as.”

⁴ tn Heb “the work of the hands of a potter.”

⁵ tn The words “my arrow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to clarify the imagery for the modern reader (cf. NRSV, NLT).

⁶ tn The word “Zion” is not repeated here in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation to indicate that the statement refers to Zion and not to Greece.

⁷ sn The meaning of the statement the Jerusalem above is free is that the other woman represents the second covenant (cf. v. 24); she corresponds to the Jerusalem above that is free. Paul’s argument is very condensed at this point.

⁸ tn The direct object “children” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁹ tn Grk “because more are the children of the barren one than of the one having a husband.”