Psalms 33:1

Psalm 33 ¹ 

33:1 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!

It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.

Psalms 64:10

64:10 The godly will rejoice in the Lord

and take shelter in him.

All the morally upright ²  will boast. ³ 

Psalms 68:3

68:3 But the godly ⁴  are happy;

they rejoice before God

and are overcome with joy. ⁵ 

Psalms 97:12

97:12 You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord!

Give thanks to his holy name. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 12:12

12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages ⁷  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 12:1

The Central Sanctuary

12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁹  has given you to possess. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 2:1

The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab

2:1 Then we turned and set out toward the desert land on the way to the Red Sea ¹¹  just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.

Romans 5:11

5:11 Not ¹²  only this, but we also rejoice ¹³  in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Philippians 3:1

True and False Righteousness

3:1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.

Philippians 3:3

3:3 For we are the circumcision, ¹⁵  the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, ¹⁶  exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials ¹⁷ 

Philippians 4:4

4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!

¹ sn Psalm 33. In this hymn the psalmist praises the Lord as the sovereign creator and just ruler of the world who protects and vindicates those who fear him.

² tn Heb “upright in heart.”

³ tn That is, about the Lord’s accomplishments on their behalf.

⁴ tn By placing the subject first the psalmist highlights the contrast between God’s ecstatic people and his defeated enemies (vv. 1-2).

⁵ tn Heb “and they are happy with joy” (cf. NEB). Some translate the prefixed verbal forms of v. 3 as jussives, “Let the godly be happy, let them rejoice before God, and let them be happy with joy!” (Cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV; note the call to praise in v. 4.)

⁶ tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זָכַר (zakhar, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 6:5; 30:4. The Lord’s “name” is “holy” in the sense that it is a reminder of his uniqueness and greatness.

⁷ tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”

⁸ sn They have no allotment or inheritance with you. See note on the word “inheritance” in Deut 10:9.

⁹ tn Heb “fathers.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days which you live in the land.” This adverbial statement modifies “to obey,” not “to possess,” so the order in the translation has been rearranged to make this clear.

¹¹ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Deut 1:40.

¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹³ tn Or “exult, boast.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:12.

¹⁵ tn There is a significant wordplay here in the Greek text. In v. 2 a rare, strong word is used to describe those who were pro-circumcision (κατατομή, katatomh, “mutilation”; see BDAG 528 s.v.), while in v. 3 the normal word for circumcision is used (περιτομή, peritomh; see BDAG 807 s.v.). Both have τομή (the feminine form of the adjective τομός [tomo"], meaning “cutting, sharp”) as their root; the direction of the action of the former is down or off (from κατά, kata), hence the implication of mutilation or emasculation, while the direction of the action of the latter is around (from περί, peri). The similarity in sound yet wide divergence of meaning between the two words highlights in no uncertain terms the differences between Paul and his opponents.

¹⁶ tc The verb λατρεύω (latreuw; here the participial form, λατρεύοντες [latreuonte"]) either takes a dative direct object or no object at all, bearing virtually a technical nuance of “worshiping God” (see BDAG 587 s.v.). In this text, πνεύματι (pneumati) takes an instrumental force (“by the Spirit”) rather than functioning as object of λατρεύοντες. However, the word after πνεύματι is in question, no doubt because of the collocation with λατρεύοντες. Most witnesses, including some of the earliest and best representatives of the Alexandrian, Western, and Byzantine texts (א* A B C D² F G 0278^vid 33 1739 1881 Ï co Ambr), read θεοῦ (qeou; thus, “worship by the Spirit of God”). But several other important witnesses (א² D* P Ψ 075 365 1175 lat sy Chr) have the dative θεῷ (qew) here (“worship God by the Spirit”). Ì⁴⁶ is virtually alone in its omission of the divine name, probably due to an unintentional oversight. The dative θεῷ was most likely a scribal emendation intended to give the participle its proper object, and thus avoid confusion about the force of πνεύματι. Although the Church came to embrace the full deity of the Spirit, the NT does not seem to speak of worshiping the Spirit explicitly. The reading θεῷ thus appears to be a clarifying reading. On external and internal grounds, then, θεοῦ is the preferred reading.

¹⁷ tn Grk “have no confidence in the flesh.”