Psalms 50:2

50:2 From Zion, the most beautiful of all places, ¹ 

God comes in splendor. ² 

Jeremiah 3:19

3:19 “I thought to myself, ³ 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ⁴ 

What a joy it would be for me to give ⁵  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ⁶ 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ⁷ 

and would never cease being loyal to me. ⁸ 

Lamentations 2:15

ס (Samek)

2:15 All who passed by on the road

clapped their hands to mock you. ⁹ 

They sneered and shook their heads

at Daughter Jerusalem.

“Ha! Is this the city they called ¹⁰ 

‘The perfection of beauty, ¹¹ 

the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” ¹² 

Daniel 8:9

8:9 From one of them came a small horn. ¹³  But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. ¹⁴ 

Daniel 11:16

11:16 The one advancing against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand before him. He will prevail in the beautiful land, and its annihilation will be within his power. ¹⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “the perfection of beauty.”

² tn Or “shines forth.”

³ tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

⁴ tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

⁵ tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

⁶ tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

⁷ tn Heb “my father.”

⁸ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”

⁹ tn Heb “clap their hands at you.” Clapping hands at someone was an expression of malicious glee, derision and mockery (Num 24:10; Job 27:23; Lam 2:15).

¹⁰ tn Heb “of which they said.”

¹¹ tn Heb “perfection of beauty.” The noun יֹפִי (yofi, “beauty”) functions as a genitive of respect in relation to the preceding construct noun: Jerusalem was perfect in respect to its physical beauty.

¹² tn Heb “the joy of all the earth.” This is similar to statements found in Pss 48:2 and 50:2.

¹³ sn This small horn is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who controlled the Seleucid kingdom from ca. 175-164 B.C. Antiochus was extremely hostile toward the Jews and persecuted them mercilessly.

¹⁴ sn The expression the beautiful land (Heb. הַצֶּבִי [hatsÿvi] = “the beauty”) is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel. Cf. 11:16, 41, where it is preceded by the word אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”).

¹⁵ tn Heb “hand.”