Psalms 48:11

48:11 Mount Zion rejoices;

the towns of Judah are happy,

because of your acts of judgment.

Isaiah 51:3

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Isaiah 52:7-10

52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains

the feet of a messenger who announces peace,

a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

52:8 Listen, your watchmen shout;

in unison they shout for joy,

for they see with their very own eyes

the Lord’s return to Zion.

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects Jerusalem.

52:10 The Lord reveals 10  his royal power 11 

in the sight of all the nations;

the entire 12  earth sees

our God deliver. 13 

Isaiah 62:11

62:11 Look, the Lord announces to the entire earth: 14 

“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘Look, your deliverer comes!

Look, his reward is with him

and his reward goes before him!’” 15 

Zephaniah 3:14-17

3:14 Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! 16 

Shout out, Israel!

Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; 17 

he has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!

You no longer need to fear disaster.

3:16 On that day they will say 18  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! 19 

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; 20 

he renews you by his love; 21 

he shouts for joy over you.” 22 

Zechariah 9:9

9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!

Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!

Look! Your king is coming to you:

he is legitimate 23  and victorious, 24 

humble and riding on a donkey 25 

on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey.

Matthew 21:4-9

21:4 This 26  took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: 27 

21:5Tell the people of Zion, 28 

Look, your king is coming to you,

unassuming and seated on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 29 

21:6 So 30  the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 21:7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks 31  on them, and he sat on them. 21:8 A 32  very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those following kept shouting, 33 Hosanna 34  to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 35  Hosanna in the highest!”


tn Heb “daughters.” The reference is to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 97:8 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).

tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as generalizing imperfects. (For other examples of an imperfect followed by causal לְמַעַן [lÿmaan], see Ps 23:3; Isa 49:7; 55:5.) Another option is to interpret the forms as jussives, “Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the towns of Judah be happy!” (cf. NASB, NRSV; note the imperatives in vv. 12-13.)

sn These acts of judgment are described in vv. 4-7.

tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

tn Heb “How delightful on the mountains.”

tn Or “has become king.” When a new king was enthroned, his followers would give this shout. For other examples of this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular מָלַךְ [malakh], followed by the name of the king), see 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13. The Lord is an eternal king, but here he is pictured as a victorious warrior who establishes his rule from Zion.

tn קוֹל (qol, “voice”) is used at the beginning of the verse as an interjection.

tn Heb “eye in eye”; KJV, ASV “eye to eye”; NAB “directly, before their eyes.”

tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

10 tn Heb “lays bare”; NLT “will demonstrate.”

11 tn Heb “his holy arm.” This is a metonymy for his power.

12 tn Heb “the remote regions,” which here stand for the extremities and everything in between.

13 tn Heb “the deliverance of our God.” “God” is a subjective genitive here.

14 tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so NASB, NRSV).

15 sn As v. 12 indicates, the returning exiles are the Lord’s reward/prize. See also 40:10 and the note there.

16 sn This phrase is used as an epithet for the city and the nation. “Daughter” may seem extraneous in English but consciously joins the various epithets and metaphors of Israel and Jerusalem as a woman, a device used to evoke sympathy from the reader.

17 tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

18 tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

19 tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

20 tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

21 tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

22 tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

23 tn The Hebrew term צַדִּיק (tsadiq) ordinarily translated “righteous,” frequently occurs, as here, with the idea of conforming to a standard or meeting certain criteria. The Messianic king riding into Jerusalem is fully qualified to take the Davidic throne (cf. 1 Sam 23:3; Isa 9:5-6; 11:4; 16:5; Jer 22:1-5; 23:5-6).

24 tn The Hebrew term נוֹשָׁע (nosha’) a Niphal participle of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “to save”) could mean “one delivered” or, if viewed as active, “one bringing salvation” (similar KJV, NIV, NKJV). It is preferable to take the normal passive use of the Niphal and understand that the king, having been delivered, is as a result “victorious” (so also NRSV, TEV, NLT).

25 sn The NT understands this verse to be a prophecy of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and properly so (cf. Matt 21:5; John 12:15), but reference to the universal rule of the king in v. 10 reveals that this is a “split prophecy,” that is, it has a two-stage fulfillment. Verse 9 was fulfilled in Jesus’ earthly ministry but v. 10 awaits a millennial consummation (cf. Rev 19:11-16).

26 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

27 tn Grk “what was spoken by the prophet, saying.” The present participle λέγοντος (legontos) is redundant and has not been translated.

28 tn Grk “Tell the daughter of Zion” (the phrase “daughter of Zion” is an idiom for the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “people of Zion”). The idiom “daughter of Zion” has been translated as “people of Zion” because the original idiom, while firmly embedded in the Christian tradition, is not understandable to most modern English readers.

29 tn Grk “the foal of an animal under the yoke,” i.e., a hard-working animal. This is a quotation from Zech 9:9.

30 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ instructions in vv. 2-3.

31 tn Grk “garments”; but this refers in context to their outer cloaks. The action is like 2 Kgs 9:13.

32 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

33 tn Grk “were shouting, saying.” The participle λέγοντας (legontas) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

34 tn The expression ῾Ωσαννά (Jwsanna, literally in Hebrew, “O Lord, save”) in the quotation from Ps 118:25-26 was probably by this time a familiar liturgical expression of praise, on the order of “Hail to the king,” although both the underlying Aramaic and Hebrew expressions meant “O Lord, save us.” In words familiar to every Jew, the author is indicating that at this point every messianic expectation is now at the point of realization. It is clear from the words of the psalm shouted by the crowd that Jesus is being proclaimed as messianic king. See E. Lohse, TDNT 9:682-84.

35 sn A quotation from Ps 118:25-26.