Deuteronomy 30:9

30:9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands ¹  abundantly successful and multiply your children, ²  the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more ³  rejoice over you to make you prosperous ⁴  just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,

Isaiah 62:5

62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,

so your sons ⁵  will marry you.

As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,

so your God will rejoice over you.

Isaiah 65:19

65:19 Jerusalem will bring me joy,

and my people will bring me happiness. ⁶ 

The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow

will never be heard in her again.

Zephaniah 3:17

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

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ⁷ 

he renews you by his love; ⁸ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ⁹ 

[30:9]  ¹ tc The MT reads “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.

[30:9]  ² tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV); NRSV “of your body.”

[30:9]  ³ tn Heb “return and.” The Hebrew verb is used idiomatically here to indicate the repetition of the following action.

[30:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “for good.”

[62:5]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).

[65:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be happy in my people.”

[3:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ⁸ 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”).

[3:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”