Psalms 16:9

16:9 So my heart rejoices

and I am happy; ¹ 

My life is safe. ² 

Psalms 73:24-26

73:24 You guide ³  me by your wise advice,

and then you will lead me to a position of honor. ⁴ 

73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?

I desire no one but you on earth. ⁵ 

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, ⁶ 

but God always ⁷  protects my heart and gives me stability. ⁸ 

Romans 5:2

5:2 through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice ⁹  in the hope of God’s glory.

Romans 12:12

12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.

Romans 15:13

15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in him, ¹⁰  so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:2

15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

Romans 2:16

2:16 on the day when God will judge ¹¹  the secrets of human hearts, ¹²  according to my gospel ¹³  through Christ Jesus.

¹ tn Heb “my glory is happy.” Some view the Hebrew term כְּבוֹדִי (kÿvodiy, “my glory”) as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 30:12; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

² tn Heb “yes, my flesh dwells securely.” The psalmist’s “flesh” stands by metonymy for his body and, by extension, his physical life.

³ tn The imperfect verbal form here suggests this is the psalmist’s ongoing experience.

⁴ tn Heb “and afterward [to] glory you will take me.” Some interpreters view this as the psalmist’s confidence in an afterlife in God’s presence and understand כָּבוֹד (cavod) as a metonymic reference to God’s presence in heaven. But this seems unlikely in the present context. The psalmist anticipates a time of vindication, when the wicked are destroyed and he is honored by God for his godly life style. The verb לָקַח (laqakh, “take”) here carries the nuance “lead, guide, conduct,” as in Num 23:14, 27-28; Josh 24:3 and Prov 24:11.

⁵ tn Heb “Who [is there] for me in heaven? And besides you I do not desire [anyone] in the earth.” The psalmist uses a merism (heaven/earth) to emphasize that God is the sole object of his desire and worship in the entire universe.

⁶ tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

⁷ tn Or “forever.”

⁸ tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

⁹ tn Or “exult, boast.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “in the believing” or “as [you] believe,” with the object “him” supplied from the context. The referent could be God (15:13a) or Christ (15:12).

¹¹ tn The form of the Greek word is either present or future, but it is best to translate in future because of the context of future judgment.

¹² tn Grk “of people.”

¹³ sn On my gospel cf. Rom 16:25; 2 Tim 2:8.