Psalms 47:7-8

47:7 For God is king of the whole earth!

Sing a well-written song! ¹ 

47:8 God reigns ²  over the nations!

God sits on his holy throne!

Psalms 62:8

62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people!

Pour out your hearts before him! ³ 

God is our shelter! (Selah)

Psalms 86:12

86:12 O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks with my whole heart!

I will honor your name continually! ⁴ 

Psalms 105:3

105:3 Boast about his holy name!

Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

Psalms 147:7

147:7 Offer to the Lord a song of thanks! ⁵ 

Sing praises to our God to the accompaniment of a harp!

Isaiah 65:14

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ⁶ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ⁷ 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ⁸ 

Matthew 15:8

15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart ⁹  is far from me,

John 4:23-24

4:23 But a time ¹⁰  is coming – and now is here ¹¹  – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks ¹²  such people to be ¹³  his worshipers. ¹⁴  4:24 God is spirit, ¹⁵  and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term also occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142. Here, in a context of celebration, the meaning “skillful, well-written” would fit particularly well.

² tn When a new king was enthroned, his followers would acclaim him king using this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3ms מָלַךְ, malakh, “to reign,” followed by the name of the king). See 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13, as well as Isa 52:7. In this context the perfect verbal form is generalizing, but the declaration logically follows the historical reference in v. 5 to the Lord’s having ascended his throne.

³ tn To “pour out one’s heart” means to offer up to God intense, emotional lamentation and petitionary prayers (see Lam 2:19).

⁴ tn Or “forever.”

⁵ tn Heb “sing to the Lord with thanksgiving.”

⁶ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

⁷ tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

⁸ tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

⁷ tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.

⁸ tn Grk “an hour.”

⁹ tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.

¹⁰ sn See also John 4:27.

¹¹ tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”

¹² tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunounta") as the complement.

⁹ tn Here πνεῦμα (pneuma) is understood as a qualitative predicate nominative while the articular θεός (qeos) is the subject.